


Highs and Lows

by ThunderFrost2012



Category: Football RPF, Real Person Fiction, Sports RPF
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Benedikt has kinky ideas, Bodyswap, Breakfast, Comedy, Discovery, FIFA World Cup 2014, Flirty Lukas and Bastian, Flirty Miroslav and Thomas, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Footy Ficathon, Friends to Lovers, Funny situations, German National Team, Hard to believe but I'm back, Here we go with more fairy-tale, Humor, Implied Relationships, Jogi knows everything, M/M, Making Up, Manuel knows everythng about everyone, Mats and Benni just spiralled out of my control, Mats feels awkward, Miro loves fishing, More characters to be added, Multi, Naive Hansi, One-Sided Attraction, Philipp is so oblivious, Phone Calls & Telephones, Prompt Fill, Relationship(s), Secret Relationship, Slow Build, Thomas wants to be forgiven, Training, What-If, Will someone still remember this story?, a bit of Hömmels, a little bit of swearing, awkwardness all over around, even Manu and Phips flirt without being aware of that, everyone in the National Team will be mentioned, flirty Jogi, general confusion, grouchy Jogi is love, have fun, hints of Gotzeus, hints of jealousy, joyful Manuel, little fights, more flirting, more training, much more to come, odd fairytales, scared Philipp, some Götzeus never hurts, sweet and awkward moments for Manu and Fips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-20 10:15:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2425001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThunderFrost2012/pseuds/ThunderFrost2012
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My attempt to fill this (awesome) prompt on the Footy Ficathon:<br/>Philipp Lahm/Manuel Neuer; body swap!<br/>bonus points:<br/>- They try to hide the fact that they're body swapped from the others<br/>- Manuel has trouble reaching for things and Philipp constantly bumps into things<br/>- Manuel is happy about getting to be field player<br/>- The cure is true love's kiss or something like that</p><p>26th June 2016: updated!! *O*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: You don't know how it feels

**Author's Note:**

> I've never ever EVER written a bodyswap fic before, but I couldn't resist this request.. so, please, be kind ^^
> 
> Disclaimer: this has never happened, I don't own/know the characters involved and all I earn is the fun of writing this craziness xD
> 
> Beta: thanks to the wonderful Peter_Ambos. Hey, Gotzeus lovers, you can't miss his awesome fic! go read it <3

\- _Please, make it end!_ -

This was the whole German National Team’s main wish, while they were all waiting for the triple whistle from the referee, which would have validated their victory.  
Algeria was such an underestimated team and they were really having a hard time against them.  
Thanks to André and Mesut they were winning, but Algeria had scored once, too, and could have tied the match at any moment.

And penalties were the last thing the German guys wanted.  
Especially two of them.  
Manuel wasn’t ready for that. He would have expected it during the semifinal or at the final itself, but not at a Round of Sixteen; it was too soon and he had already done enough miracles for that day.  
And Philipp was too worn out to keep the spirit of the team high even during such an eventuality. He had already done it during the whole not-so-easy match.

That’s why they probably were the happiest when finally the referee made that agonizing match end for real.  
Everyone in the team applauded and celebrated André and Mesut as their rescuer and then Bastian and Thomas suggested to go somewhere special to celebrate their victory.

And after Löw’s speech, which was mixture of lame congrats for the victory and more convincing reproaches for all the chances they had imprudently given to Algeria to score; everyone was ready to have that little party.  
Well, not exactly everyone.

Manuel and Philipp had decided to stay with the others only for dinner time, and then they had headed back towards the hotel.

“I still don’t get it… how do all the others feel like celebrating so much?” Philipp grumbled, while Manuel gave a tip to the taxi driver.  
“Well, it’s pretty simple: because we won. You know, usually winning people cheer!” The goalkeeper replied.

“We just had good luck; we didn’t play that good today.” The Captain retorted.  
“Oh, c’mon, Phips, it’s not that we played badly, it’s just that Algeria played very well, too. That’s a big difference!” Manuel made him notice, while they walked through the hall of the hotel.

“I don’t think so. Besides, I can understand the younger ones, who are always in a party mood... but Per... and mostly Miro? Why did they join the others, too?” The older one kept wondering.  
  
Manuel didn’t know why Per had decided to do so, but, regarding Miro, he knew why he was there for sure.  
But he couldn’t tell Philipp – or anyone else, for the record – a word, he had promised and he always kept his given word.

“So, if you also think that we deserve a party for our victory, why aren’t you with the others now?” Philipp questioned him, while they walked towards the elevators.  
“Only because I’m bloody tired, there’s nothing I can crave more than my bed right now.” The younger revealed, yawning.

The elevator reached the ground floor, the doors opened and they stepped in, pressing the button of their floor.  
“Everyone should get some rest, so we can work harder from tomorrow on.” The shorter stated.

“Geez, Phips, you can’t always think about work. You’d need to relax once in a while!” The taller advised him, snorting.  
“I can’t relax that much. I’m the Captain, for God’s sake! You don’t know how it feels to have the responsibility of a whole team on your shoulders!” Philipp snapped. “Relax? Do you really think that France will relax on Friday?”

“That’s not what I said!” Manuel pointed out.  
“Oh yeah, sure, to you everything is always a joke! Just like all the risky exits you did today, what was the bloody point? Geez, Manuel, does it really bother you so damn much trying to act more like a classic goalkeeper?” He hissed.

Their ride on the elevator was over, but not their quarrel.

“What? Do you really think I don’t do my job well enough? Did you ever mull over the fact that maybe all my ‘risky exits’” Manuel paused, in order to mimic the inverted commas with his indexes and middle fingers. “Are in order to prevent something even more dangerous?” He retorted, insulted.

“I’m not saying that you’re not good at your job, you really are; it’s just that sometimes you push your luck way too much.” Philipp clarified.

“Well don’t tell me how to do my job! You don’t know how it feels, all the damn pressure every time a striker runs towards my goal post!” Manu yelled.

They were in the middle of a corridor, but, after all, it was only past ten o’clock, they could allow themselves to be a little noisy.

“And you don’t dare tell me how I should feel about my team! You’re not the Captain!” Philipp yelled back.

“And you’re not a goalkeeper, so shut the fuck up!” Manuel struck back, reaching his room. He drew the key card out of his pocket, slid it along the proper device and opened the door, only in order to have the satisfaction of slamming it into Philipp’s face.

Muttering and cursing under his breath, also Philipp headed towards his room and went inside. He changed his clothes and got ready to go sleep.

“Stupid Manu, he just doesn’t understand...” he babbled out loud, before falling asleep.

He couldn’t imagine that, some meters away, Manuel had fallen asleep slurring a similar curse.

Maybe they just had to sleep on it and the day after they would make peace to each other.  
Or maybe fate had something more special and definitely unusual in store for them.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Manuel blamed the beer that he had drunk at dinner, because it was giving him that typical side effect and he had to pee, urgently.  
He didn’t even bother to switch the light on, not wanting to disturb Thomas, in case he had already come back and was sleeping – he hadn’t even checked what time it was, it could have been midnight, two or six o’ clock in the morning... – and ventured towards the bathroom.

Easier to say that than to actually do.

Manuel had the unfamiliar sensation that there was a bigger gap between his bed and the floor, but he didn’t mind and walked towards the bathroom, fumbling in the dark.

Another funny thing: Manuel could have sworn that the bathroom was on the left of the room, but surprisingly he found it on the right.

He did what he had to do with great relief, but even when he washed his hands he had the sensation that the washbasin was a tad taller than before.

He shrugged, blaming his drowsy state for all of those sorts of hallucinations and fumbled back to his bed, climbing on it.

Weird. He usually didn’t climb.  
\---------------------------------------------------------

  
Philipp had never been a late riser, so, with the first rays of sun seeping through the window, he awoke and got ready to start the new day.

He felt a lot better, he was ready to make amends with Manuel and hopefully hearing his apologizes as well.  
He sat up on the bed, in order to get up and his head bumped into a shelf.

“Ouch!” He whimpered, laying down again and massaging his aching temple.

Something wasn’t wrong: there wasn’t a shelf near above his bed, but even if there was one, it was very unlikely that he could bump into it.

However, because of what he had said before, Philipp's brain registered something else even more worrying. “Wait a minute, this is _not_ my voice!” he added, getting confirmation of that.

He observed his feet under the sheets, through the dim-light... was he longer or something? Because he was reaching the end of the mattress.

He brought his hands in front of his eyes, to inspect them. They had never been so damn big!  
Something was scarily wrong.

The dim light wasn’t enough anymore. Frustrated, he decided to turn the light on, he would apologize to Per, in case he had woke him up.

But Per wasn’t there, there was only an empty bed, untouched.  
There was only a rather relevant detail: that was _not_ his bedroom.  
What the hell was happening?

He got up from the bed, doing that rather faster than usual, and, still dumbfounded and clueless, he headed towards the bathroom, hitting his head good and proper once again, against the door frame.

“Ouch! Dammit!” He squeaked with his new – and yet strangely familiar – voice.

Had someone lowered the door during the night or what?

He damped the bumps on his head and temple with some refreshing water, but when he raised his gaze and stared at the mirror; somewhat he was glad that that room was empty, because that gave Philipp the freedom to shout his bewilderment out.

“OH MEIN GOTT! I’VE FUCKING BECOME MANUEL!”

TBC


	2. I: It's not enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Manuel and Philipp deal with what happened, which helps one of them make a very interesting discovery...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again,  
> thank you so much for comments, kudos, subscriptions, bookmarks (wow, really? ^^ )  
> I’m so glad you liked the prologue; let’s see if I’m lucky even with the first chapter...
> 
> Forgive any possible mistake, because this is unbeta version, I'll replace with the betaed one in a bunch of days ...
> 
> 18th Oct: updated with betaed version, thanks so much to Peter :)

‘Manu, if you’re already awake, DON’T place yourself in front of a mirror! P’  
  
Philipp sent his text message and the answer came a couple of minutes later.  
  
‘Just to find out that now I’m you and –  let me guess – you’re me? Too late. I’ve already screamed the hell out of myself, woke Per up and pretended that I was scared because I saw a huge spider! M’  
  
‘A spider?! P’  
  
‘Yep! Aren’t they the most horrible things you’ve ever seen? Eeeww! M’  
  
Philipp chuckled after such an unexpected discovery, before texting his reply.  
  
‘Well, I’m not fond of them for sure, but... scared? Good for us if Per bought it, nice move. But I guess we have something more urgent than spiders to worry about! P’  
  
His –  no, wait Manu’s i-Phone – rang and Philipp could easily figure out who it was.  
  
“For God’s sake, Phips! What the hell did you do to me?” Manuel attacked him, trying to yell, but without raising his voice too much.  
Probably he had locked inside the bathroom and didn’t want Per to casually hear him.  
  
“No, what did _you_ do to me?” Philipp struck back.  
  
“Undo it! Bloody undo it now!” Manuel commanded.  
  
“Did you mistake me for a wizard or what? Besides, after all the times that you have seen ‘Harry Potter’ I guess that you could be able to do something like this!” Philipp accused him.  
  
“Leave ‘Harry Potter’ out of this matter!” Manuel told him. “I have no idea about how this could have happened.”  
  
“I was pretty sure that actually things like this could not happen, never ever!” Philipp pointed out, but immediately after he heard someone opening the door. “Gotta go. We’ll talk about it later, when we met for breakfast.” Philipp made their conversation end.  
  
“Good morning, Manu, are you already up?” Thomas greeted him, cheerfully.  
  
“About time to show up, Thomas!” Philipp hissed, but much more fatherly that he meant to sound.  
  
Thomas frowned at him; that wasn’t Manuel’s typical way to greet him.  
  
“Well, excuse me, _daddy_!” He mockingly struck back.  
  
“Sorry, Thomas, it’s just that... you know, you disappeared without a word, so...” Philipp justified.  
  
“I know, Manu, my bad for not warning you.” The younger apologized. “You know, I was sure I’d be back in my room for the night, but Miro had utterly different plans.” He giggled at the memory. “These are the advantages of being the veteran and having a room only to himself!” He smirked.  
  
Philipp jolted and consequently hit his head against the shelf above the bed once again.  
  
“OUCH! Did I hear that right? You.. and Miro?!” He babbled, with his eyes about to jump out from his eye sockets and his jaw threatening to reach the floor.  
  
Thomas burst out laughing.  
  
“Yep, that’s exactly your same reaction when I’ve told you about that, two years ago, just without the bang!” He chuckled.  
  
\- _So Manu has known about Miro and Thom all this time long and he has never told anyone. This is such a massive secret to keep! Praise to his moral integrity_. – Philipp mused, as he massaged his head for the umpteenth time that morning.  
  
“Yep, you know, I wanted to bring back some memories!” He shrugged. “Besides, you know what? Every time I hear about that, it’s just as if it was the very first time!” He added, saying nothing but the truth.  
  
“You’re always so silly!” Thomas playfully shoved him, before taking his sport clothes and heading towards the bathroom.  
  
“I’ll be ready in a few minutes!” he shouted, locking himself inside it.  
  
“Hey! So you’ve spent the night outside, then you come back now and you even steal the bathroom? That’s not fair!” Philipp yelled at him.  
  
After all, he still had to take a shower and change his clothes as well.  
  
Thomas opened the door and his face popped out.  
  
“You’re right,” He acknowledged. “But you know me!” He stuck his tongue out at the other, before locking the door again.  
His funny insolence made Philipp smile.  
  
\- _Well, in the meantime I can find out where Manu put his sport clothes.-_ he established, starting to fumble through the drawers and the closets.  
  
\-------------------------------------------------------------  
  
“Hurry up, we’re late and that’s only your fault!” Phips roared, dragging Thomas out of their room.  
  
“I like taking my time in order to look at my best!” Thomas struck back, caressing his perfectly shaved visage.  
“You’re worst than a woman!” Philipp grumbled, rushing to the first available elevator.  
  
“What’s all this fuss about, Manu? We’re always late and most of the times it’s not even my fault!” The younger shrugged, before stepping into the elevator with him.  
“Well, we need to change this attitude; it’s disrespectful towards the whole team!” The older lectured him, while the elevator reached the first floor, where breakfast was served.  
  
“Guess what? It looks like we’re not the only late comers!” Thomas giggled, pointing at the doors of the elevator in front of them that were opening.  
  
Manuel stepped out of the elevator with Per and immediately caught a glimpse of… well, himself, in a certain way.  
  
“Be right back. Tell Jogi that you all can start even without us!” Philipp ordered, grabbing Manuel by his forearm and dragging him away, towards the public bathroom.  
  
“He exploded into a tirade about the importance of being punctual and then he leaves without an explanation?” Thomas muttered.  
  
“Don’t ask me, even Philipp is acting very oddly today.” Per grumbled, while they reached the breakfast room where, not so surprisingly, everyone already was, waiting for them.  
 

There were only two people missing and said people were having a rather lively discussion, hidden inside a luckily isolated bathroom.  
  
“How the bloody hell could have this happened, Manu? How, why, and HOW once more?” Philipp snapped, pacing around the small floor.  
  
“Please, Phips, calm the fuck down! I hate seeing myself so nervous!” Manuel snorted, holding his hips to keep him still. “Listen, if there’s a way in which this thing happened, then there also must be a way in which this... well dishappens!” he tried to calmly reason.  
  
“ _Dishappen_ is not even a word!” The older pointed out, still pacing.  
  
“But you understood what I mean. And. You.  Must. Remain. Fucking. Still!” The younger glared at him, almost growling.  
  
Philipp stared at him so deeply that Manu felt awkward.  
  
Well, at least Philipp was holding still, finally.  
  
“What now?” Manuel asked, a bit perplexed.  
  
“Geez, I really look scary when I’m pissed off!” Philipp chuckled, before recalling that they had something extremely important to face.  
  
“Nope, Manu, I don’t know if there’s a way to break this sort off spell. We’re dealing with magic. Black magic, for what I can guess. And I’ve never believed in magic, you know? I’ve always thought that there must be a specific, scientific reason if people could disappear and reappear somewhere else, if someone could be split in two... or if someone could guess which card you had picked from a deck ... but THIS!” Philipp ranted, panic-stricken.  
  
“I know, Phips, and I’m as bewildered and scared as you. But it could have happened something worse. At least we are still here, alive, in good health, with the team... just in the wrong body!” Manuel tried to downplay, stealing a small smile from Philipp.  
  
“You’re right. So... we just need to find a way out and bring things back to normality.” The Captain babbled.  
  
“You know what? This reminds me of a movie I’ve seen years ago, it was about a kid and his dad switching bodies, or it was a teen girl and her mother... I don’t recall.” Manuel commenced.  
  
“Geez, it’s not that important. And mostly, you shouldn’t watch such rubbish!” The older snorted.  
  
“Hey, Mr. Snotty, accept an advice: sometimes you should watch even movies that have never won any award.” Manuel struck back. “The point is that there was a moral. There’s always a moral in such movies.”  
  
“So what was the moral?” The other urged him.  
  
“Once they understood each other’s vision of the world and once they made up, the spell was broken.” The younger informed him.  
  
“And what the fucking hell were you waiting for to tell me such a thing? C’mon, hurry up; let’s make up, NOW!” Philipp snapped.  
  
“Yeah, Phips, nice move. Yelling hysterically at me will surely bring us to make up.” Manuel sarcastically muttered.  
  
“No, wait, you’re right. Okay, I’ve calmed down, for real, now. I apologize for the too bitter words that yesterday escaped from my mouth. I didn’t really mean what I said.” Philipp murmured, holding his hand out towards the other.  
  
“Thank you. I accept your apologies and I hope you’ll forgive me as well. You’re the best Captain this team could ever have.” Manuel smiled at him, shaking his hand and they both waited for any kind of magic to happen.  
  
Maybe some sparks, a light, a gust of wind, a sound...  
Nothing happened.  
  
“Why the hell isn’t this bloody working?” Philipp snapped again.  
  
“I... I don’t know. I was sincerely apologizing to you.” Manuel blathered.  
  
“So was I!” The other confirmed.  
  
“Well, probably it’s not enough. There must be something else that we have to do.” Manuel hypothesized.  
  
“Well, no matter what, we must find out what it is! But now we’d better go back to the others and act as normally as possible. No one must suspect a thing!” Philipp ordered.  
  
“Well, this is not something that usually people can suspect.” Manuel made him notice.  
  
“Maybe the ones who use to watch such stupid movies could!” The Captain struck back.  
  
“Okay, you made your point.” Manuel snorted, a bit insulted, before feeling the need to massage his neck. “Geez, how can you look at me or at Per all time long? My poor neck is begging me for a break!” He whined.  
  
Philipp chuckled.  
  
“I know, whenever I have to spend time with you, I get a stiff neck.” He revealed.  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry!” The goalkeeper apologized, almost feeling guilty.  
  
“Don’t. It’s always a good stiff neck.” Philipp found himself confessing, before visibly blushing. “Well, let’s go, before Jogi loses his patience.” He rushed to add, leaving the bathroom.  
  
Amused and also sort of flattered, Manuel followed him.  
  
When they arrived to the breakfast room, Joachim was standing in the middle, glaring at them, with his arms crossed against his chest.  
  
“Philipp!” He thundered. “If your new policy is to make your team starve before an intense session of training, well... I don’t like it one bit!” He yelled at Manuel, who stared at the ground, with a guilty attitude.  
  
“It’s not his fault, Mister; it’s me who asked him out, because I had very important stuff to discuss with him and couldn’t wait any longer.” Philipp intervened. “I apologize with the whole team if that took us longer than I expected.” He added, facing everyone’s look, woefully.  
  
“Manu, believe me, I’ve tried to tell him that we could start even without waiting for you two, but the Mister didn’t allow us to.” Thomas explained. “Can we eat now?”He eagerly asked, satisfied only when he saw Löw nodding.  
  
He was the first who rushed towards the buffet and the first to be back at his table.  
  
“Müllie, this is not part of the training yet, there’s no need to rush.” Miroslav chuckled, sitting next to him.  
  
“I know, but right now it’s not about the team, I’m scoring for myself only!” The younger grinned, getting ready to attack his plate of bacon, sausages and pancakes.  
Miroslav shook his head, amused, turning his attention to his healthier plate of sliced ham, American cheese and bread.  
  
Not much later, Roman and Per also sat at their table, but everyone’s eyes were on Manuel, when he took his seat among them.  
  
After all, just like every proper morning, he was about to have his slices of bread with Nutella... it’s just that that day he didn’t have the right body to do that and remain unnoticed.  
  
“There’s nothing better to start the day!” The goalkeeper grinned, but feeling everyone’s eyes on him made Manuel recall something pretty relevant.  
  
“Oh... well, I was just trying to...” He babbled.  
  
“Aahah, Phips, you were damn right, they’re all so stunned! Look at their priceless faces!” Philipp rushed to rescue him. “Hey, guys, isn’t it a very unexpected joke? You really thought that our dear Captain was about to eat it!” He burst out laughing and Manuel figured out what he was trying to do.  
  
“Ah-ah, well, Manu, told you so! So, see, guys, I can be funny sometimes!” Manuel shrugged, relieved when he heard the others chuckling.  
  
“Okay, now, Phips, give me back _my_ Nutella and take back your apple juice with muesli and milk!” He showed Manuel with his hip to the next empty seat, placing his tray in front of the goalkeeper and taking his.  
  
“So glad the joke is over. Finally I can enjoy my nutrient and healthy food!” Manuel pretended to rejoice, dipping his spoon in the bowl of muesli and gulping down a spoonful with a sip of milk.  
  
“Alright, Nutella, come to Daddy!” Philipp went on, performing his best imitation of Manuel.  
  
He grabbed a slice of bread, opened the first stick of Nutella and dipped the knife into it, smearing it all over the bread.  
Now that things seemed to have come back to their normal routine, all the others didn’t pay attention to them anymore.  
But Philipp did pay attention to Miroslav and Thomas and their interactions.  
  
He hadn’t ever even slightly figured it out before, but now that he stared better at them, he could swear that there was something definitely flirty in the way Thomas tried to steal food from Miro’s plate, Miro caught him red-handed every time, pretended to scold him and the younger smiled sheepishly at him.  
  
Or in the way Miroslav pretended to grub stuff from the table, such salt, pepper, water or paper napkins, in order to have an excuse to skim Thomas’s body.  
And Philipp couldn’t help smiling softened at the newly discovered love pairing.  
  
Miro found another excuse to slide closer to Thomas.  
  
“Am I wrong or is Manu insistently staring at you?” He hissed, jealousy clearly dripping from his low tone.  
  
Thomas glanced at Philipp for a while, with all the possible discretion, and then he smiled, letting a fork fall on the floor, on purpose.  
  
“Hun, it’s not that he’s staring only at me, he’s staring at us both... but I don’t know why he keeps smiling like an idiot. Uh, maybe it’s for what I told him about tonight!” He whispered to Miro, pretending to be busy collecting the fork.  
  
“Oh well, I don’t mind if he wants to stare at us both!” Miro smirked relieved, pretending to help Thomas taking the fork. “So, did you tell him about tonight?” He raised his eyebrow at the Bavarian, intrigued.  
  
“Well, only some hints, but not the hottest details. I’ll treasure them jealously in my mind!” He winked at him, before they both surfaced and Thomas placed the now dirty fork aside.  
  
  
Manuel looked like someone who was taking the worst medicine ever, but Philipp was the one with more trouble, because he had eaten only half slice of bread with Nutella with a huge effort and now was struggling to eat the second part.  
  
“Wassup, Manu? Usually right now you’re already attacking the third slice!” Roman made fun of him.  
  
“I know, guys, but I’ve summoned myself to try to eat less of this stuff... let’s see how long I can last!” Philipp found a brilliant excuse.  
  
“Oh, Manu, that’s very remarkable of you!” Manuel pretended to congratulate. “But at least finish your slice. We don’t like waste of food, do we?” He challenged him.  
Unseen by everyone, Philipp kicked Manuel’s ankle and the goalkeeper jolted painfully, but without a sound.  
  
“Sure, Phips. What? Do you think I’m not able to do that? I’m going to devour this half slice in a heartbeat!” He scornfully laughed and then laboriously resumed to eat.  
  
TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of lack of more info about them (my bad :/ ) , I’m going to invent a lot of stuff about Manu and Phips’s habits, hobbies or favourite things ...
> 
> OP (and readers, as well) I hope you won’t mind if I added my fave pairing in it, I just couldn’t help ... and probably another pairing will join...
> 
> I hope you had fun so far, because I’m having a lot writing it ^^
> 
> More stuff to come :)
> 
> I apologize if I have too many works in progress all around the fandom, I swear I’m going to complete everything sooner or later  
> Really, I guess that I'll leave 'Ich Liebe Meine Mannschaft' , 'Too Soon' and 'Not very n(ice)!' in stand by for a while, because I'll concentrate on this one *coughs* but maybe I could even add other new stuff *coughs*
> 
> If you have some special request for what you want to see happen (or another pairing you’d like to see in it), please, let me know... I’ll try to please you if it goes along with the plot I’m planning ;)
> 
> Thanks for your time, don’t be shy with kudos or words ;)


	3. II: Don’t think that I didn’t notice…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The training begins and the fun goes on …

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooo ^^  
> thank you so much for your feedback, I’m flattered by all the subscriptions *O* … I’ll take it as a good sign ^^  
> Here’s the new chapter, enjoy :)  
> Beta: thanks to the wonderful Peter, as always

“Oh God, I’m so going to puke the hell out of me after all that damn Nutella!” Philipp whined, leaving the breakfast room with Manuel and the rest of the team.

“Naaah, it’s not going to happen with my stomach!” The goalkeeper chuckled. “I can even digest stones!” He added, before glaring at the Captain. “And it’s better for you if it’s the last time you curse Nutella!”

“The point is that I don’t have the same appetite as you! And don’t think that I didn’t notice all the bowls of muesli you ate!” Philipp retorted, while they were heading towards the Pullman.

“Well, it’s not that bad once you get accustomed to its topsoil taste.” Manuel shrugged.

“Hey, it doesn’t taste like topsoil!” Philipp protested, insulted.

“Well, it doesn’t taste like Nutella for sure!”

“Stop worshiping your bloody Nutella all the time! And don’t you dare make my body gain even a single pound or I’m going to… OUCH!” The Captain threatened him, before bumping into the Pullman door.

“Watch out! Stop banging your head, don’t think that I didn’t notice the other bumps; you’ll end up giving me brain damage!” Manuel squeaked, while they walked through the corridor.

“Actually, it can’t happen, because it’s my brain trapped inside your body.” Philipp patiently explained to him, massaging his forehead.

“Huh, you’re right!” Manuel recognized, while he was unsuccessfully trying to put his rucksack on the luggage rack.

And then he turned to Philipp, sort of enlightened and disappointed.

“See? It’s working, because my brain is already performing less well than before!” He accused the older.

“Geez, Manu, I start to think that Nutella flooded your brain!” The Captain just rolled his eyes, while he kept watching amused all Manuel’s attempt to put his rucksack on the luggage rack.

“Do you need some help with that?” The older gently offered.

“Yes, please, I’ve never had this kind of trouble before!” Manuel grumbled, giving in and handing his rucksack to Philipp.

“I have them, everyday and everywhere, even at the grocery store, when I can’t reach the last can on a shelf on my own!” Philipp confessed, enjoying his new height and arranging the rucksack perfectly near his one.

“Well, if I ever get my body back, consider me your personal helper at the grocery store, whenever you need me.” The goalkeeper winked at him, making the other smile.

They found more conventional to sit next to each other, also because Philipp had other stuff to discuss with Manuel.

But it would have happened after Joachim’s daily speech of motivation, before the driver set the Pullman in motion.

“So, tell me. What about Thomas and Miro?” Philipp asked Manu, casually, in a whisper.

“Thomas and Miro what?” Manu grew tenser.

“You know.”

“Nope. Phips, I don’t know anything!”

They sat near Sami and Mesut who both were listening to music, behind Roman who was sleeping, and ahead Julian who was watching a movie on his iPad. So there were zero chances that someone could hear them, even if they called each other with the real name.

“Manu…” Philipp sing–sang, insistently.

Silence.

“How do you know anyway?” Manuel questioned him, after a few seconds.

“Thomas wasn’t in his room yesterday and when he came back this morning he told me where he has spent the night. And with whom he did.” Philipp explained. “You know, he thinks that I’m you, so…”

“I know, I know. Well, it’s not my fault if you found that out this way. Probably you must be shocked now and…”

“I’m not shocked. Just a little surprised, but not negatively shocked.”

“Really?” Manuel asked him bewildered and the other nodded.

“So what? Do you want the details now? Don’t ask me, ask Thomas! He’s the kind of person who likes telling you stuff.” The younger said.

“Nope, I don’t want any detail; it’s just that I feel so sorry for them!” Philipp babbled.

“Huh?”

“I mean, look at them. Miro is sitting close to Per and Thomas sits with Jerome and Mario… they should be free to stay with each other even now.” The Captain made him notice.

Manuel stared at him as if a second head had popped out from his neck.

“What? Those words coming from the guy who wrote a book on why one should never come out as a soccer pro!” He reminded to him.

“Geez, you’re so exaggerating! First, it wasn’t a whole book, it’s just a little something I mentioned in my autobiography… and second, I’m not saying that Thomas and Miro should announce a press conference and let the whole world know about their relationship. They should just do that with the team, I’m sure everyone would understand them, maybe even Jogi would!” Philipp pointed out.

Manuel giggled.

“Well, I don’t think that Jogi would be too fond of knowing that, but… whatever!” He shrugged. “Hey, I didn’t know that you cared so much about that matter!” He added, smirking to his listener.

“I just don’t find it fair. Who knows? Probably Miro and Thom aren’t even the only ones hiding in the team… and every good and capable Captain should always help his teammates, both on and off the field.” He justified.

Manuel turned to look at Bastian and Lukas who – surprise, surprise – were sitting together, giggling and making heart shaped eyes to each other all the time.

And then he glanced to Mats and Benedikt as well. Oh c’mon, two Captains of two arch – rival teams were supposed to glare at each other and reciprocate intolerance to the other’s presence, save for when they had to play in National Team. But those two weren’t playing at the moment and they were sitting so close that Mats was almost on Benedikt’s lap and they beamed like idiots, somewhat incapable to avoid any sort of physical contact.

–  _Is the whole National Team blind or what?_ – The perceptive goalkeeper wondered.

“Well, Phips, I’m sure that there’s someone who doesn’t need your permission, support or comprehension for that!” He stated.

Philipp frowned and Manuel had fun seeing how his own features turned into such a confused expression.

No wonder why fans called him ‘Ducky’, he really reminded of a duck!

“What do you mean?” Philipp questioned him.

“Nothing, my friend.” The goalkeeper answered back vaguely, chuckling.

“Well, the point is that, you know, if I had a boyfriend inside the team, I’d like to be free to stay with him every time I please, at least when we are training with the others.” Philipp asserted.

This time the Captain had the privilege to see his most dumbfounded expression ever.

“Well, it’s not that I have a secret boyfriend here.” He added. “Or anywhere else. I don’t even fancy guys, for the matter!” He added again, in order to make that point as clear as possible.

“Neither do I!” Manuel informed him.

For some reasons, an awkward silence fell between them, until the Pullman reached his destination.  
It was time to train.

“Shit!” Philipp cursed, while they were leaving the Pullman.

“What’s wrong?” Manu asked him.

“And you even ask me! I’m afraid that we didn’t use our free time in the best way possible.” The Captain complains.

“Why? It was only innocent chatting before training, as always.” Manuel retorted.

“Yeah, but this time, in case you have forgotten, we’re not going to play our usual roles.” Philipp patiently reminded him.

“Oh, shit, that’s true!” Manuel cursed as well. “Watch out, lower your head this time…” He warned Philipp, preventing him from hitting his head on the Pullman door once again.

“Thanks.” Philipp murmured, warding off what would have been the umpteenth bump of the day.

“Well, I guess that it’s a bit too late for advices now.” Manuel considered.

“Yep, all I can tell you is to always keep an eye on the whole team and tell them what to do, if necessary.” Philipp explained to him.

“And all I can tell you is… defend the goal post!” Manuel advised him.

Philipp glared at him.

“Oh, really? I would have never guessed!” He hissed sarcastically, before Roman and Ron-Robert swept him away with them towards the lockers.

“Well, Philipp, assure yourself that all the guys get ready fast. I want you all on field in five minutes.” Joachim ordered Manuel.

“Huh. Yeah,  sure, even sooner if I can.” He babbled, running away.

–  _Yep, probably this is something that Philipp would have said_. –  He mused, reaching the others.

“Hey, guys, the faster you go on the field, the happier Jogi will be.” He announced, before seeing a certain someone struggling with something he knew very well.

“Do you need help?” He smirked, sitting close to Philipp who was tugging the strips of the gloves with his teeth.

“Yes, please, it seems so easy when you put them on.” The older babbled, while Manuel arranged the gloves better and fixed them.

“Done.” He smiled at him. “Geez, I can’t believe you can’t do something so simple!” He giggled.

“Well, Mr. I-do-everything-perfectly, you put the Captain band upside down!” Philipp struck back.

“Dammit!” Manuel hissed, while Philipp adjusted it.

“That’s it. Now you really look like a Captain.” the older smiled.

“But I don’t feel like a Captain at all.” Manuel grumbled.

“And I don’t feel like a goalkeeper one bit!” Philipp confessed, clearly concerned.

The other players didn’t have any trouble and three minutes later the warm-up before the match was starting.

Easy step.  Manuel and Philipp were used to that. Just with different bodies.

“Dammit! I’ll never reach those feet!” The Captain whined, stretching as hard as he could.

“Someone is lacking flexibility, huh? It’s such an easy task for me!” Manuel bragged, touching the tip of his feet very easily, indeed.

“It’s not fair, you’ve always been such a good bender!” Philipp whined, before realizing the awkward double meaning of his sentence, especially because of the way Manuel was staring at him.

“Well, bad choice of words. I meant with the stretching!” He pointed out, blushing to the tip of his ears.

Manuel kept chuckling all the time, so much that Philipp was almost thankful to Löw when he made them start to run.

“Okay, let’s keep the teams of last time. Take your positions and we can start.” The coach instructed everyone.

Philipp approached him.

“Well, Mister, I was thinking about letting Ron-Robert play instead of me, he could be pretty helpful and needs his training as well.” He casually suggested him.

“Well, Neuer, try to give me this advice only when you become a coach as well!” The older man grumbled. “Now shut up and go to your goal post!”

Sighing, Philipp headed towards the designed place, almost as if he was crossing a scaffold.

Contrary to him, Manuel trotted happy towards the midfield. He couldn’t believe his luck. It was a long time dream coming true.

And no one would have yelled at him this time if he had crossed the line.

Now it was just a matter of trying to adjust his abilities in such a petite – but undoubtedly cute – body.

Thomas was glad that Löw had decided to keep the teams of last time, because it meant that he and Miroslav would be rivals once again.

Although he somewhat missed their brilliant teamwork, their great feeling and the continuous assists to each other, Thomas found incredibly funny marking his man, in every sense of the word.

And since the chances of having a Bayern against Lazio match were impossible for that football season he was going to enjoy every moment of it.

The match had just started and even sooner than he expected, Thomas saw Miro receiving the ball from Lukas and aiming towards the adversary area.

But the young striker was on midfield, ready to give his beloved a tough time.

“End of the ride, Opa, where do you think you can go?” He teased him, while he tried to steal the ball from him, but Miro didn’t mean to let him win.

“A lot of water has still to pass under the bridge before you manage to stop me!” Miroslav cockily sneered, before making a tunnel between Thomas’ parted legs and he fooled him, running away with the ball.

He easily dribbled even Manuel and Benedikt, before seeing André free. He made an assist to him.

André kicked the ball very powerfully, while Philipp begged every saint he knew, standing there, still and tense like a violin string.

The ball hit the crosspiece and ended off the field.

“FUCKING FUCK, ANDRE, WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME OR WHAT? DON’T KICK THE DAMN BALL SO BLOODY HARD!” Philipp squeaked, panic-stricken.

“What?” The poor André turned to him, puzzled.

Manuel rushed to the striker, laughing nervously.

“Oh, don’t mind at Manu, he’s just teasing you!” He shrugged, while he cast a glare towards Philipp, hidden from anyone.

“Is it so, Manu? Well, next time I have another chance I’m going to kick the ball so fast that you won’t even see it!” André retorted, insulted in his ego.

There was a certain someone who hadn’t liked what he had just seen one bit.

“What the fuck was that, Manu? Why didn’t you even bloody move?” Joachim snapped, deeply disappointed.

Philipp had to think as fast as he had never done before. And he had to think like Manuel’s way, too.

“Well, Mister, you know me and my very good eye. I didn’t do anything, simply because I had already named the ball out, right after André kicked it. So, tell me, what was the point in wasting my energies in something so unnecessary?” Philipp calmly answered, managing to face the coach’s look fearlessly.

Joachim’s pissed off expression turned into a pleased smirk.

“I’ve always loved that quality of yours, Manuel, but I’ll appreciate more if you didn’t run such a stupid risk anymore!” He struck back, with authority.

“It won’t happen again!” Philipp assured, as relieved as Manuel was.

They resumed playing and Philipp managed to turn his goal kick into an assist to Manuel who taking advantage of his free position started to rush forward, towards the opposite goal post.

His petite condition made him feel as light as a butterfly, which helped him to run faster and dribble every defender.

And there he was, in front of the goal post, facing a rather surprised Roman and giving him a really hard time.

The ball was inside the net one second after Roman had plunged to the opposite side.

Manuel could have cried with joy.

Not only he had finally managed to cross that oh so forbidden line of midfield, but he had even scored a marvelous goal.

Everyone in his team was congratulating him and even Philipp was truly happy for his friend’s deserved moment of glory.

But said certain someone was about to spoil the party.

“Damn you, Philipp! Are you nuts? What the hell was that?” Joachim roared.

“Well.. hum… a goal?” Manuel hazarded.

“Of course it was a goal, you bloody genius! But just… why? This is training, in case you have forgotten: if you have such a spirit of initiative during a match I couldn’t be happier, but NOT during a training session, never, ever. You must respect your role and test the striker’s skills.” Löw lectured him. “Thomas and Mario were free, you should have pass the ball to one of them.” He went on.

“Damn right, Mister. Captains obsessed with attention-seeking are such a pain in the neck in football!” Thomas stated, acting way too sycophantic.

“Shut up, Müller!” Joachim rolled his eyes, before recalling something important he hadn’t realized yet.

He turned to Jerome and Per. “Hey, you two, why the hell were Mario and Thomas so free? Do your job better!” He reproached them who nodded silent and compliant like lambs.

  – _Well, at least dear old Jogi is too pissed off at half team to notice the oddities_. – Manuel pondered with relief, but it was another the main thought dwelling in his mind.

–  _I scored. I scored! I.Fucking.Scored. I made poor Roman a fool. I’ll ask Phips to tease him for me later!_ –

The game started again. Lukas kicked the ball from midfield, Miroslav received it and passed it to him again.

The younger Pole ran towards the opposite area, but Bastian stuck in the way, waiting for him.

Contrary to Thomas, he was playing a zone and, for some reasons, Lukas always ended in his zone.

“No way, Basti, don’t even try, you won’t get anything from me!” Lukas announced, avoiding all the German’s attempts to steal the ball from him.  
Bastian smirked at him in his best sexy way.

“This is not what you told me tonight, in my bed, sweetie!” He murmured in his ear, caressing his hips.

“Holding!” Jerome shout and Hansi – who was playing the referee – agreed, conceding a free kick to Lukas’s team.

Lukas challenged Bastian with his look, before letting Per kick the ball.

Thomas managed to intercept the ball and he dribbled Per who managed to take the ball, but only temporary. Even Manuel tried to slide on the field, but he was not accustomed yet to his new dimension to do an incisive defensive action to help Thomas, but the younger managed to regain the ball on his own.

Thomas kept running, determined to score, but Miro was ready to block him.

“Sorry, Müllie, but I can’t let you pass; you have something that I want.” Miro sneered, stealing the ball from him and passing it to Erik who immediately kicked it to Jerome.

 _– Oh no, please, not a counterattack!_ – Philipp silently pleaded, deeply concerned. – _To be a goalkeeper is not so difficult, after all…save for when someone rushes towards the goal post!._ –

Something told him that that was going to happen again.

Lukas ran along the left zone, receiving the ball just in time to pass it to Miro who rushed in front of the goal post, before Thomas could reach him.

Miro shot with the precision of a Switch clock and cool-headed like a serial killer. He just couldn’t fail. And he didn’t.

Philipp moved, but only in order to repair himself behind a pole.

“Goal!!” Miro’s team cheered with him.

Also Thomas approached him, but with other intentions.

“Listen, Miro, next time you want something from me again don’t be so sure that I’ll be so willing to give it to you. And, nope, I’m not referring to field issues!” He whispered to him, with a disappointed pout.

“Then make you change your mind will be the real challenge, hun!” The Pole winked at him.

To say that Löw was shocked was only a euphemism.

 “Manuel! For God’s sake! What the fuck is wrong with you today?” He yelled at the goalkeeper.

 _– Basically the fact that I’m bloody NOT Manuel!_ – Philipp mentally answered.

The real Manuel intervened in order to help him.

“You know what, Mister? I guess that Manu is only a little stressed, by the way, this is the important matter we have talked about this morning, before breakfast.” He informed him. “It’s comprehensible; after all, he has been under such a pressure yesterday. I guess it’s more than normal. It could have happened to anyone in the team” He stated.

The coach stared at him in disbelief.

“Do you really think so?”

“Yeah, Mister, Philipp is right. Let’s say that I don’t feel one hundred per cent myself today, but it’s only temporary.” Philipp assured. “So, please, don’t mind at my performances so much today!” He pleaded. “Or even better, why don’t you replace me with Ron-Robert? I’m sure he won’t disappoint..”

“No way, Manu, stop asking. You’ll remain in that damn goal post and you will try your best to remind to me why I called you up for the World Cup line-up!” Joachim reproached him, bothered.

“Alright. And I assure you that I’m going to do my part as well. Less moments of glory in front of the goal post for me and much more defense. I’m going to make Manu work as less as possible.” Manuel guaranteed.

Löw grunted back something that sounded like a not very convinced ‘Okay’ and went back to his bench.

Philip mouthed a ‘Thank you’ in Manuel’s directions and Manuel just beamed to him, getting ready to resume playing.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you still like it, please, if you find the time, let me know *O* also kudos are love <3  
> Psst, see, Gina? I put some Hommels in that and there’ll be more about those two ;)  
> Thank you all for reading.  
> Next update will be the fifth part of the series, stay tuned ^^


	4. III: Football, not Flirt-ball!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the match goes on, the flirting goes on, the awkwardness goes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooooo,  
> geez, I haven’t updated for ages, I’m awful ... will someone still remember this story? I don’t think so.
> 
> I wanted to update for Christmas and I did... so yayy, let me wish a MEEERRRYYY CHRISTMASSS to all of you people reading this ^^ 
> 
> You know, I’m really stunned by the huge amount of kudos and subscription this story received, but at the same time I’m rather upset by the lack of comments... maybe this story isn’t good enough to get comments... I apologize :(
> 
> I don’t even know if the author of this prompt is around here and if he/she is satisfied or wished someone else would take this prompt... 
> 
> Sorry if I sound a little blue... that’s the effect Christmas has on me..
> 
> Okay, less talk, more fic ^^
> 
> Not betaed, sorry for mistakes :/ (26th Dec, I've corrected the AWFUL mistakes I found, but probably there are more.. )

The action started from Lukas who kicked the ball in Miro’s direction.

- _Oh no, please, not Miro again!_ – Philipp silently pleaded, unsure about what was the best move to do or the best pose to acquire.

Luckily for him, Manuel definitely knew what to do. He calculated the distance better that time and slid in order to steal the ball from the Pole’s feet and he did perfectly, without even slightly hitting the Panzer.

Still laying on the ground, Manuel managed to use a foot to pass the ball to Benedikt who, seeing Lukas and Miroslav rushing towards him like two furies, decided to throw the ball outside, because right then he lacked better solutions.

“Höwedes!” Joachim yelled at him, standing up and making the defender startle. “You’ve been prudent. And I like a bit of prudence in my team. Well done.” He approved with a nod and Benedikt smiled, relieved.

Mats did the throw-in aiming at Per, but Thomas figured everything out and intercepted the ball, running forward.

He dribbled anyone and then he saw Mario breaking free from his markers and rushing in front of the goal post.

Thomas made a perfect assist to him and the younger struck, but - contrary to Philipp – Roman didn’t suffer from identity crisis and managed to capture the ball in his firm hands.

“Well done, everyone!” Joachim incited the guys, while Roman performed the goal kick.

Mats was the one who jumped higher than anyone else and reached the ball, sending it to the ground with a touch of his chest.

Kevin  was too far to come back to their area in time, Manuel was busy to keep Mario at bay, Mesut and Bastian were dealing with Lukas and Sami – truth must be told, mostly Sami and Mesut were staring at each other as if they could have ripped each other’s jersey off any minute and enjoy a very good time -, so Philipp was on his own against Mats.

And Mats was more than determined to shoot.

“No, no, no, no, no, NO!” The blond repeated like a mantra, turning his glowed hands into fists and agitating his arms frantically, with his eyes kept closed.

That wasn’t for sure the most proper way to stop a ball, but thanks to a sort of God’s miracle, it worked, because with one of his weird movements a fist connected with the flying ball, sending it beyond the Middlefield line.

Stunned, Joachim walked towards Hansi.

“Please, Hansi, tell me that I just imagined it and Manuel didn’t actually close his eyes while he was trying to stop the ball!” He muttered, staring at that goalkeeper he had not irrelevant troubles to recognize.

“I’m afraid he did.” The improvised referee confirmed, as dumbfounded as his boss. “Do I have to stop the game because you have to speak to him?” He figured out.

“Nope. To be honest, right now I don’t even know what I should tell him.” The puzzled coach babbled, coming back to his bench.

Lukas ran in the direction of the ball, before it landed, but Bastian had the same idea and they ended up fighting for that. Lukas pushed Bastian to the ground, falling upon him in the process.

“Foul!” Hansi declared, whistling. “Despite how enjoyable this can be for you two, now get up!” He added, making the not so secret lovers blush instantly, among everyone’s giggles.

Even Joachim chuckled at his assistant coach’s witty remark and then he turned to Philipp. He still didn’t know what to say to him, but he had to say something.  
“Well, Manuel, that was undoubtedly bizarre, but somehow useful.” He stated and Philipp smirked.

He still couldn’t believe that he had managed to ward the ball off.

Also the real Manuel was staring at him, both with amusement and pride.

“You stopped the ball... so in a certain sense you’re coming back to your old self, but, please, if you even remotely care about my health, never do that again, otherwise I don’t think I’ll reach the end of World Cup still... alive!” The coach added, very concerned.

“Oh, no, Coach, I was just... experimenting. It won’t happen again!” Philipp assured, lowering his head with woeful and guilty attitude.  
\- _Maybe._ – He doubtfully added in his mind.

The more he spent time at the goal post, the less he liked that.

Benedikt had taken advantage of that tiny break to sneak closer to Mats.

“Don’t worry, baby, it will be better next time. It was a very nice shot, by the way. Just keep trying.” He murmured, placing his hand on the brunet’s shoulder.  
Mats giggled, staring intently at him.

“In case you have forgotten, you are supposed to be glad if I didn’t manage to score. We are wearing sport bibs with different colours, remember? Which means opposite teams.” He made him notice, pointing at his orange sport bib and then to the blond’s green one.

Benedikt simply shrugged.

“Yeah, so what?  It’s always Germany, it’s for the sake of our beloved Mannschaft!” He justified. “However, you know, I hate you with a passion whenever you score against my Schalke!” He added, making his mate laugh.

“Stay assured that the feeling is mutual, honey. The more you keep far from Dortmund goal post, the better is!” He winked at him. “So what? Are you going to cheer with me if I score today? Right here, in front of all the others?” He challenged the blond.

“Why not? Just make it happen and then we’ll see.” Benedikt surprised him with his answer.

 

In the meantime, the ball was on the field again and Mesut was controlling it. Thomas was the fastest to break free from his marker and called for his attention, so the Turk passed the ball to the Bavarian who didn’t waste any precious time and ran towards the goal post.

Roman knew he didn’t have any chance to stop him, even before trying and it’s not that the man didn’t try. He did and managed to skim the ball with his fingers, but it wasn’t enough to deviate its fateful direction.

“Goooooooal!” Thomas rejoiced, running in circle.

Mesut, Bastian, Benedikt, Manuel and Mario cheered with him and even Philipp temporary left his goal post, in order to congratulate with the young striker.

“Well done, Thomas.” He smiled. “Now, guys, we should have a more closed position, but not too much, otherwise the others will screw us up with counterattack; we need to find a good balance.” He sentenced.

Everyone but Manuel stared at him, utterly puzzled.

“Hey, Manu, since when do you decide what we have to do?” Bastian spoke for all the others. “I’m the deputy Captain, in case you have forgotten. But it’s not that we’re lacking a Captain here, am I right, Phips?” He added, turning to Manuel.

“Huh! Of course I’m here and I couldn’t agree more with Manu’s suggestion, this guy has brilliant insights sometimes!” Manuel stated, smiling at Philipp. “So, yeah, that’s what we need to do, c’mon, none of them will manage to reach Manu’s zone again!” He incited everyone, having the necessary authority to do that.

As a matter of fact, everyone agreed and grinned, reaching their position, while the ball was placed on the Middlefield line.

 

Miro was ready to shoot, right in front of Thomas, waiting for Hansi to whistle.

“Hey, Müllie, now that you scored as well, aren’t you more inclined to forgive me for before?” He pushed his lack, kicking the ball to Jerome immediately after Hansi’s whistle.  
“You wish!” Thomas challenged him with his look, while they were both following the action, but right then their intervention wasn’t required.

Thomas recalled his boyfriend’s words and narrowed his eyes at him.

“What?” Miroslav wondered, unquiet, as if he could already sense something.

“Wait. You were way too happy for my score. This doesn’t mean that you facilitated me, does it?” The younger inquired him.

“I did ...what?! No, of course not! That’s not what I said. To begin with, I’m not happy that my opponent team scored, but I’m glad for you if you did.” The Pole explained, very calmly. “Besides, I would never do such a humiliating thing. I respect you , not only as a wonderful young man but as a brilliant player, too;  so the least I can do is to offer to you a real challenge every time we face each other in a match.” He declared.

“Good to know.” The Bavarian smirked. “But I’m still crossed with you for before!” He retorted.

“When it was you against me and I just gave you a real challenge, just like you deserve?” Miroslav patiently made him notice.

After all, a relationship with Thomas Müller required a lot of patience.

“Yeah...” The younger hemmed.

“Just like you were pissed off at me a few minutes ago, when you believed that I let you pass on purpose, allowing you to score?” Miro tried again.

“Yeah, pretty much!” Thomas replied, practically digging his heels in.

He was perfectly aware that he was making a scene over nothing, but there was no way that he would admit it.

Said Miroslav’s well-known  patience was about to evaporate.

“So no matter what I do, you’ll be crossed with me both if I act like a proper adversary or with a partisan attitude. Geez,  it just doesn’t make any sense!” He snapped.

“Whatever! I don’t know, maybe I’m just crossed with you, because it’s fun!” Thomas struck back, but losing a bit all that previous confidence.

“Well, guess what? Now you gave me a real reason to be cross with you!” Miro hissed, walking away from him.

Since they weren’t very far from him, Manuel had seen everything and he decided that go towards his best friend and try to cheer him up was the best thing to do.

After all, the ball was contended among Lukas, Bastian, Matthias, Kevin, Julian and Skhodran and the situation didn’t seem to change; so that was the perfect moment to intervene.

“Don’t worry, Thomas, you’re going to win him back, like always. You know that you have him wrapped around your finger. You just have to remind yourself that, contrary to you, he’s a  full grown-up adult and this childish behaviour may annoy the hell out of him!” He comforted him, trapping the younger into a small and quick hug.

Thomas parted from him, staring at the blonde in the most dumbfounded way.

“Thank you... I appreciate all this interest from you in this issue, but it’s nothing that can compromise the harmony in your team, okay? It’s just that Miro is like a mentor to me and ...” Thomas tried to justify, very coldly.

Manuel was rather surprised by such harsh manners from the younger, but then he understood why: from Thomas’s perspective he wasn’t talking with his best friend, which thousands time had listened to him and advised him about his love troubles; he was interacting with his Captain and although they happened to interface each other even off field, at same event or in more general occasions, Philipp and Thomas didn’t exactly have what is called a close friendship.

“Alright, you know... I was checking if my teammates were okay...” He babbled, coming back to the middle field and looking for some actions.

\- _What did it mean what he said about me and Miro? It didn’t sound like football issues... maybe does Philipp knows something?-_ Thomas wondered.

 He was still confused but that wasn’t the time to think about that.

The game went on, but until the end of first half there were no more attempts to score, from both of the teams; although there were lots of interactions in the middle field and not exactly the strictly agonistic type of interactions among players that at least in that situation were supposed to be enemies.

While everyone was leaving the field to refresh themselves and have a drink, Joachim approached Hansi.

“Well, I just hope that at least in the second half it will turn into a match of football, not _flirt_ -ball!” The coach grumbled.

“What do you mean?” Hansi wondered, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh c’mon, are you blind? Don’t tell me you didn’t see what I saw. Another evident proof is given by the way in which Mesut left the field hugged to Sami, just like Bastian and Lukas were so involved chatting that they seemed to live in a world that belongs to them only. By the way, you even made a pungent witty remarks on Lukas’ last foul!” He reminded to him.

“But I was only joking! Do you really mean that those two... Oh, Mein Gott!” The younger replied, deeply stunned.

“And they’re not the only ones. Let’s just say that when I tried to diffuse a message of love for Die Mannschaft, someone took it way too literally!” Joachim confessed, snorting.

“Maybe like Mats and Benedikt who are way too glued to each other for being the Captains of the two most arch-enemy teams in the whole Bundesliga?” Hansi hazarded.

“Bingo!” The older smirked. “See? Now finally you’re seeing things with my same eyes. What else did you notice?”

“Uhmm... maybe the fact that Mario seems to be less cheerful here and probably it’s related to the absence of the blondest member of this team?” Hansi tried again, chuckling.

Whatever was that game they were playing, he was beginning to have fun.

“Yep, this is so blatant that I guess that everyone in the team knows that.” Joachim explained. “It’s just odd not to see Thomas happily trotting around Miroslav, as his usual ... probably they must have had another fight.”

Hansi thanked his lucky star that he wasn’t using his whistle anymore, otherwise he would end up gulping it down.

“What?! Even Miro?! And with Thomas, for God’s sake!” He shook his head, almost as if it was an attempt to reject that info.

That was far more than the poor assistant coach desired to know.

“Yep, but I’m not going to judge them in their private area. That’s not my job. I just have to judge what they do on field and as long as they perform well, I’m fine with that.” He confessed. “So far, the goalkeepers, the Captain and a few others seem the only ones who don’t have this kind of secondary attachment to the team. I don’t even trust the youngest boys, they’re going to be trouble, soon.” He grumbled.

“I don’t think so.” Hansi replied. “So, if you already knew about all this love-or-whatever-it-is spread around some of the teammates... what’s the point in making them face each other in opposite team?” He wondered.

“Well, think about it. If they were in the same team, they would be too relaxed and probably too happy as well, they already have the matches against the other National teams for that, and they’re never relaxed in that kind of match. But during training if they have to face each other they’re more inclined to make a good impression to each other and try their best!” He grinned.

“Sometimes you’re so shrewd that you scare me!” Hansi babbled, making his boss laugh.

“You know what? Sometimes I understand those guys. Probably having someone you crave to meet every time there’s National duties makes your job even more pleasant, don’t you think so?” Joachim murmured, lowering his tone on purpose.

There was an awkward silence, filled only by a rather uptight Hansi’s silent questions.

\- _Wait a minute. Was he still talking about the guys or... ?_ –

And Joachim’s amused smirk wasn’t helping him at all. Everything was just too ambiguous and the most worrying fact is that he didn’t even know if he was a little afraid... or extremely flattered.

 

In the meantime, the players were enjoying the last minute of relax.

“You must help me, Manu, Thomas is sort of stalking me, needing advice for I don’t know what mess with Miro... and I just can’t help him with that!” Philipp grumbled, reaching the goalkeeper.

“I know and I’d like to help him, but he avoids me as if I was pestilent or something!” Manuel struck back. “Probably it’s time he faces these issues on his own and proves to Miro that he has grown up!”

“Yeah, probably is the best solution ... or before the end of the training you’ll find a minute to tell me what happened and what you need to tell Thomas.” The older decided.

“Just like I spoke as a Captain using your words, before!” Manuel recalled, smiling. “By the way, you’re not so terrible as goalkeeper; for now go on with your very creative ways to stop the ball...” He bursts out laughing, earning a pissed off glare from his interlocutor. “But then I’m going to give you some precious advices.” He promised.

“Really? So does it mean that there’s more than ‘defend the goal post’?” Philipp mocked him.

“Yes, there is and I’m going to show you everything, but not now. Just hold on a little bit, Phips.” The younger winked at him, patting his shoulder encouragingly.

Not too far for seeing them, but too far for listening to what they were saying, Christoph was observing Manuel and Philipp, wondering what they could have so important to talk about so frequently.

He sort of disliked Philipp for the way he was ‘monopolizing’ Manuel.

He needed to speak to him as well, this could be the proper occasion, but since the second half was about to start, probably he should have waited for the end of the training.

Miroslav was busy chatting with Jerome and Per, perfectly aware that Thomas was aiming at him his puppy eyes, but he was resolute not to let him win, not this time.  
He just wished that it wouldn’t have taken too long, it would be a real pity to waste a night and Miroslav’s bed without Thomas inside was cold, despite the high temperature of Brazil.

Probably Thomas was thinking the same thing and he was determined to make his Miro forgive him, with or without Manuel’s help.

But right then the training had to be the main priority.

(End I)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I like thinking that even Jogi must have a tender side XD
> 
> More Phips’ creative ways to stop the ball, more flirting and more stuff coming in second part ;)  
> Hope you’ll still like it 
> 
> Once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONEEEEEEEEE!!!! <3 
> 
> and goodnight, it's super late here *yawns*


	5. III II: Football, not Flirt-ball!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The match goes on, Mesut does something wrong, Fips is living a nightmare, Manu tries to help, Mats and Benni can’t just keep far from each other, Thomas sometimes should keep his mouth shut, Joachim is on the edge of exasperation … and much more!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello?  
> I can’t believe it, but… I’m back with this story too.  
> Thanks to everyone for support, you’re beyond wonderful <3<3
> 
> I don’t even know where to start for such late, but RL, flu, other tons of things to write/update are the guilty reasons of that.
> 
> However, I hope this chapter will be worth the looooooong waiting *tortures nails*
> 
> Well, I don’t know if to be born on 29th Feb makes you closer to 28th Feb or 1st March (oh well, here it’s already 2nd… ) but… HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BENNI!!!!!!  
> plus, Miro scored!!! Could I be any happier? <3
> 
> Not beta-ed but Peter is almost back … and I still have to replace all his beta-ed chapters, but I will, I promise ^^  
> Okay, less chatting, more chapters, have a nice reading ^^

  
The second half of the training match had started.

Joachim didn’t know what God he had to thank for that, but at least during the first quarter of the game the teams actually seemed to behave like two proper rival teams.

“I don’t know if something happened and aliens invaded the lockers during the break, abducted my guys and replaced their features, but finally I’m seeing a real football match, not an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful!” The coach whispered to Hansi, on the board of the field, at the first occasion of interrupted game.

The assistant turned to his boss, staring at him in awe.

“Of course, it’s not that I watch that stupid sissy soap-opera, it was just an example!” Joachim rushed to point out.  
“Well, I guess that Miroslav could play Ridge Forrester, being the most desired one...” Hansi commented with nonchalance.  
“What? No way, he’s the oldest, so he has to play Erik Forrester!” Joachim pointed out, falling right into the shrewd Hansi’s trap.

“Ha-ha, you know the name of the characters so well, so don’t tell me that you don’t watch that soap!” Hansi made him notice with an accusing finger.  
“Okay, but it seems that you do as well!” The coach stroke back, before switching back to his flirting mood. “Maybe one of these days we could watch some episodes together...” He hinted.

Watching TV and sharing a comfy sofa with Joachim. Hansi was thrilled at the only thought, but he knew he wasn’t the proper moment to abandon himself to his romantic fantasies.

“I-I guess th-that I ha-have a match to referee!” The assistant babbled, backing off to the middle of the field, in order to follow the actions better.

Joachim smiled to himself. After all, Hansi’s awkwardness was one of the things he liked the most about that guy.

   
Thanks to their sort of quarrel, Miroslav and Thomas didn’t speak a word during their interactions with the ball, but they kept trying to give each other a very hard time, just like two proper adversaries.  
Maybe most of the rest of the teams must had taken them as role model, because even the other couples tried to remind to themselves that maybe that was not the right time to flirt.  
So everyone on the field acted so carefully and tenaciously that each goalkeeper saw the ball very rarely and never during a dangerous action, mostly thanks to a too long or wrongly aimed pass from the middle of the field.  
If Roman was getting bored pretty much, Philipp was serene and relaxed.

 _\- Why can’t a goalkeeper confine himself only to doing this? –_ He mused, while he performed the umpteenth goal kick.

It turned into an assist to Bastian, who stopped the ball and ran ahead, before he saw Manuel free, serving him.  
Manuel received the ball and managed to dribble Shrokodan and Erik, before passing it to Thomas.  
But once again Miro did his job and jumped higher than his opponent, making the counter-attack start.  
He ran as fast as he could, avoiding everyone, but this time, instead of aiming at the goal post, his generous heart made him prefer to give a chance to Lukas, which was on his left.  
Lukas rushed in front of the goal post and was about to enjoy that little but precious moment of glory.  
Too bad that Mesut stopped him, sliding on the field.  
Nothing special, that was what a defender usually does, but the problem was that the Turk had totally missed the ball and his feet had connected with the Pole’s ankle.  
Lukas fell on the ground, rolling on the grass, while he held his right ankle, grimacing and whimpering.

“Ouch!”

Hansi whistled, stopping the game.  
Miroslav and Thomas rushed towards him.

“It was a clear occasion for a goal. Mesut did it terribly wrong. I demand a red card for him.” asked Miro, as Captain of his team.

Manuel wasn’t doing his Captain duty, Bastian was too busy checking Lukas’s healthy state, Philipp hadn’t move from the goal post either and so Thomas had to do the job.

“Oh, c’mon, Lukas clearly threw himself on the ground, before Mesut could even touch him. I demand a yellow card for him, for simulation!” He said.

In the meantime, Bastian had run to Lukas, which was still laying on the ground.

“Luks! Are you okay? Please, tell me it’s nothing serious!” He murmured, his voice sweeter than honey, but then he turned to Mesut, glaring at him. “Are you bloody nuts? If you damaged him, I swear that I’m going to...” He roared, his voice colder than ice.

“I’m okay, my dear!” Lukas interrupted his boyfriend’s threats, managing to get up on his own. He still clutched his ankle, before testing if he could still walk, which he could actually do.

“Hey! No one can talk this way to my Mesut!” Sami growled to Bastian. “He clearly didn’t do that on purpose and he’s more sorrowful than everyone else. Am I right, baby?” He added, with a calmer tone.

“Yes, I am and probably I’ll be sent off the field.” The Turk grumbled.

They were so engrossed chatting among them that they didn’t even notice Joachim approaching.

“What the bloody hell was that?” He roared making everyone startle.  
“Geez, guys, thanks God that it’s only a training match; Mesut, if you do something like this against France, I’ll be forced to expel you from the line-up, is that clear?” He reproached him.  
“I know, Mister, I’m so sorry. I acted without thinking wisely...” Mesut babbled, staring at the ground, in deep shame.  
“So, Hansi, what did you decide?” Löw asked his assistant.  
“We don’t have a replay like during the important matches, but it’s enough what I saw.” Hansi replied. “I’m sorry, Thomas, but Miro is right. I know that Mesut didn’t do that cruelly, but he could have damaged Lukas seriously. Besides, Lukas was just about to score, or at least he was trying. This makes impossible to me not to give penalty for the orange team and expel Mesut.” He declared, showing the red card to the Turk, who left the field.

“Mes!” Sami whined, concerned, but Lukas patted his shoulder.  
“Well, Sami, at least it’s just happening during training. He will be with you against France, playing at his best.” The Pole smiled reassuringly at the Tunisian who nodded.  
“Thanks, Lukas, you’re right. Now you should shoot the penalty.” Sami reminded to him.  
“I know, but I don’t trust my ankle that much yet.” Lukas protested.  
“Don’t count on me; you know that penalties are not my cup of tea.” Miroslav admitted.  
“Okay, guys. I’m going to do it!” Mats offered and all the team agreed.

There’s no need to say that Philipp was beyond terrified and rushed towards their coach.

“Please, Mister, this would be the perfect time to make a change and replace me with Ron-Robert!” He pleaded him.  
“Shut up and do your job. I don’t even want to hear craps like that again!” Joachim hissed, impassively.  
Scared as hell, Philipp dragged himself to his goal post, slowly and uncomfortably.

“It’s going to be okay. Just try to do what your instinct suggests you to do, don’t bother yourself too much.” Manuel advised him, walking with him, before regaining his position.

 - _My instinct tells me to fly back to Germany, right now!_ – Philipp pondered, but he knew he had no choice and ruefully got ready to face that unfair destiny.  
   
“See? I’m accepting the verdict without even protesting; this is a clear sign of maturity from me!” Thomas made Miroslav notice.  
“What? You’ve just said that Lukas cheated, for God’s sake!” The older reminded him.  
“Yes, but I didn’t plead for that any longer!” The younger justified. “However, he did cheat!” He insisted.

“Oh, please! Poor Lukas, he’s still having trouble running properly. That’s not cheating!” The Pole retorted.  
“You’re talking like that only because Lukas is in your team; otherwise you’d be the first saying that he cheated!” The German stroke back.  
Miroslav glared at him, deeply insulted.

Thomas realized too late what he had just said.  
“Yeah, sure. In case you have forgotten, once I admitted that I had scored a goal with my hand and that was during a very important match against Naples, which we even lost at the end; while this is only training. So please, don’t you dare teach me about fair play anymore!” Miroslav hissed, leaving the younger speechless and stunned.

“Well, at least he spoke to me again...” The young Bavarian barely comforted himself.

Ha had one thing more to add to his list of the things he should have make Miroslav forgive him for.  
 

It was time.

Hansi had just whistled and Mats was ready to strike.

 _\- Should I go on the left? Should I go on the right? Should I..._ –

Philipp’s considerations were interrupted by ball hitting the net in the right inner corner, at the bottom.  
Mats had scored even before he even had the time to try to stop it.

“Goal!” The Borussia Dortmund Captain cheered, a bit surprised.  
To score a goal to Manuel Neuer was never an easy task, but to score it so effortlessly!  
Lukas, Julian, Miroslav, Sami and Roman hugged him, the rest of the team celebrated him with joyful yells, but Benedikt pushed everyone aside, in order to reach his mate.

“You did it, honey!” He smiled at his boyfriend, hugging him in front of everyone, without any shame.  
“Höwedes! What the hell are you doing?” Joachim snapped.  
“Well, I’m giving a beautiful example of good sportsmanship; this is what football should be about!” Benedikt replied, still hugged to a rather stunned Mats.

He had never heard his Benni talk like that and keeping so cool, with Löw, nonetheless!

“Does it mean that you’re going to do that on Friday, if France scores against us?” The coach questioned him, pissed off.  
“I would... if only France looked as good as Mats!” Benedikt shrugged, winking at his best friend, before parting from him.  
 Joachim was puzzled, but he had much more serious troubles to worry about.

“Manuel! What the hell did you do? Or rather _didn’t_ you do?” He roared, glaring at the poor Philipp.  
“I was just pondering...” He babbled.  
“For God’s sake, Neuer! it’s not a chess match, it’s football! It doesn’t need pondering, it needs prompt action. And usually you know that better than me!” The coach growled.  
“I know, I made a stupid mistake. It won’t happen again, but, please, give me another chance, don’t send me off the field now.” Philipp pleaded.

Joachim stared at him and then an amused smirk appeared on his pissed off expression.  
“So, you’ve been asking me during the whole match, and even before it, to replace you with Ron-Robert and now you changed your mind?” The coach questioned him.  
“Yeah, pretty much.” Philipp nodded, determination sparkling in his eyes, as he fearlessly stared at his coach.  
Löw smirked again.  
 “Okay, big boy, go back to your place and don’t let me repent for that.” He conceded.  
“You won’t!” Philipp assured, running towards the goal post with renewed hope.

Manuel got closer to him.  
After all, Joachim was giving a general speech to the strikers of the two teams, there was still time.

“Oh, c’mon, Fips, that was an easy one. I know that Mats would have aimed to the right, even before he started.” He stated.  
Philipp confined himself only to glaring icily at him.  
“Okay, I imagine that maybe it wasn’t that easy for you.” Manuel corrected himself.  
“You imagine right!” The older snorted.

“So, tell me, why did you ask to remain?” The younger wondered.  
“Because I’ve reminded to myself that right now I’m living your life, I’m wearing your clothes, both metaphorically and literally!” He paused, making the other smile. “So I just couldn’t let you show up so badly in front of everyone else’s eyes, I want to fix things up. I don’t know if I can do any better, but at least I’m going to try.” He explained.

“I appreciate that a lot and I believe that you can do better than this, but you still need to know more about being a goalkeeper. I want to share my knowledge with you, but I can’t do it now.” Manu replied. “Well, wait a minute, are you busy tonight?”  
“Huh? No, well, you know, the same hotel stuff, nothing important.” Philipp answered, a little confused. “Why?”  
“You know, if we have dinner pretty early, maybe we could be back here around 8:30 p.m. and I could train you until... let’s say 10:00 p.m. , one hour and half should be enough.” Manuel suggested.  
“You and me, alone, back here tonight, training.” Philipp repeated.  
“Yep, that’s the plan!” The younger smirked.

He couldn’t explain why, but he was particularly happy at the eventuality of spending all that time alone with Philipp.

 _\- It’s just because he’s wearing my features; plus he’s a friend of mine who needs my help!_ – He tried to convince himself.

Philipp was feeling even weirder than him.

\- _Me and Manu. Alone. At night. This sounds like a date!_ – He mused, thrilled.  
   
“I don’t want to see such a reckless defence again!” Jogi switched to the defenders of the teams. “About you, Hümmels, well done. You played cool and maintained your self-control. That’s proper of every good penalty kicker.” He stated proudly, before going back to his bench.  
Philipp saw Christoph approach to him.

“Hey, Manu, don’t bother yourself. What has happened doesn’t change anything. Everyone can have a bad moment, but you’re still the best goalkeeper in the world.” The young player said, placing a hand on his shoulder.  
Philipp smiled at him, surprised by such kindness.

Now that he thought better about it, he could recall many times when the young defender had cast intense looks at him; but he was too scared/concentrated on the match to do something about it.

\- _Did he always act this way with Manuel before_?- he wondered.

For some reasons, he didn’t like this possibility at all.

“Maybe after this match I’ll try to make you forget this bad stuff!” Christoph winked at him, leaving.  
Philipp was speechless and stunned.

\- _Dammit! This clearly was a sexy advance_!- He pondered and he liked that even less.

 

Before making the match continue, Hansi slid closer to Joachim.  
“Well, after all that I’ve seen, it seems that the soap opera is back on our screens!” He whispered at him.  
“Yeah. Don’t tell anyone but I... sort of missed that!” Joachim confessed, making the other smile.  
   
“That’s right, maybe I played cool in front of Manu, but you played even cooler in front of Jogi before.” Mats murmured.  
After Hansi’s whistle, they had resumed playing and Mats was marking Benedikt – or rather pretending to – in order to talk with him without getting Löw angry.  
“I don’t know what possessed me!” Benni replied.  
“I think you should give me private lessons of coolness. _Extremely_ private lessons.” Mats purred. “If only you knew the effect that had on me. Oh, wait, if only I marked you any closer you would feel it for sure.” He sneered in his sexiest way.

Both this and what he had said made Benedikt feel his legs like jelly.  
“Uh, Matsie, you know what? We could simulate a fight, a violent one, so both of us are expelled, so we can leave this place and we can start said private lessons in the lockers.” The blond hazarded.  
Mats slid even closer to him.  
“Mm, Bennie, this sounds oh so tempting...” He purred in his ear. “But... no! We’re going to behave now.” He added.  
“But... you’re so cruel teasing me like that and then leave me so unsatisfied and needy.” Benedikt pouted.  
“I know, baby, but maybe you love my cruelty, too!” The brunet smirked, breaking free just in time to receive Lukas’ pass.

Mats saw Kevin and Christoph attack him, he managed to dribble the first, but he lost the battle – and the ball – against the second.  
Christoph didn’t waste any time and kicked the ball beyond the middlefield.

He turned to Philipp, winking at him again.  
“See, my dear? I got your back!”  
Philipp only managed to show him a weak smile, but deep inside he was very agitated.

\- _The less he got my back, the better is!-_

Meanwhile, Christoph’s shoot had turned into an assist to Mario who took the best advantage of that to break free from Sami and Julian and rush towards Roman’s goal without any mercy.  
And he succeeded.

“Goooal!” Thomas, Manu and Bastian cheered, running towards their friend.

Mario kissed his index and then he pointed at the sky.  
“This is for you, Marco!” He yelled.  
“Geez, Mario, for the umpteenth time, Marco is _not_ up in the sky!” Bastian rolled his eyes.  
“Yep, he’s till on his Earth, okay, injured and far, far away from here, but still on Earth. _Alive_!” Thomas added.  
“That’s right, but I know he can feel me.” Mario struck back.  
Bastian and Thomas just gave in.

While Joachim was reproaching the defence of the orange team once more, Manuel rushed to Philipp.  
“We’re winning and there’s only ten minutes to go, you must help us to keep being ahead. There’s more or less still twenty minutes to go. Hold on, I know you can do it. I trust you!” He incited his friend.  
“I... I’ll try to, but I hope to see the ball as less as possible.” Philipp babbled.

The game was on again, Per had shot the ball, passing it to Jerome, but Mathias figured out everything and anticipated him.  
This led to at least ten minutes of inconclusive actions, from both teams, neither of them managed to send the ball even close to the goal post, with Philipp’s immense relief.

But things changed when Erik stole the ball from Bastian, running beyond the Middlefield line.  
He took a look around, but both Lukas and Miro were too marked, so he preferred giving a chance to André who didn’t waste time.  
Philipp was nervous as hell but at least he was ready.

It sounded like a déjà-vu , André had been the first shooting towards his goal post, but something told him that he wouldn’t hit the crosspiece again.  
He couldn’t be this lucky.  
Besides, none of the defenders could help him. He was on his own. And he had to save that match. But he had no idea how to do that.  
He started to frantically bounce along the goal post, from one side to another, relentlessly.  
André kicked the ball, aiming perfectly at the goal post, but then it happened.

During his bouncing Philipp felt something hard hitting his chest. It was the ball.  
He had sent the ball away and now it was safe, under Toni’s foot.  
Manuel glanced over Philipp, winking at him.  
Even if that wasn’t the most classical way to stop a ball, he was proud of Philipp.  
   
“That guy is attempting to kill me!”  Joachim groaned to himself, but probably he was too feed up to react.

It’s hard to say who the happiest one was among Philipp, Manuel and Joachim when the match ended, once for all.  
Green team had won 3-2, thanks to Mario’s goal and thanks to Philipp awkward goalkeeper’s duties.

“Saving some lame mistakes, I guess that all you guys did great.” Joachim stated, before pointing at Manuel. “But you let me down a lot, Philipp, it seems you forgot you were the Captain. I can understand that Manuel was having a hard time and you were checking on him, but you forgot the rest of your team!” He reproached him.  
“You’re right and I’m sorry. I’ll pay more attention next time, giving the right advices, controlling the whole situation and stuff!” He guaranteed.

Probably ‘and stuff!’ didn’t sound much like an usual Philipp’s answer, but Joachim didn’t seem to mind at that and he nodded.  
“I hope so.” The coach grumbled, before turning to other players, for particular observations.

Philipp reached Manuel.  
“It’s almost surreal. It seems that I played a goalkeeper better than you played a Captain!” He chuckled.  
“Don’t be so sure of that, Mr. Fifty-Weird-Ways-To-Stop-a-Ball!” Manuel stroke back.

“Well, it seems that tonight will turn into a double training, I’ll also give you an advice or two to be a better Captain next time.” Philipp stated. “Although I really appreciated all your caring attentions towards me.” He added in a whisper, smiling sweetly at him.  
Manuel smiled back, before Thomas burst into them.

“Sorry, Fips, I’m stealing him for a while!” The Bavarian said, grabbing Philipp’s arm and dragging him in a more private area.  
“You know, I made things even worst with Miro, so now I’d be supposed to give you all the details and then waiting for your advice...” He babbled, without giving the blond even the time to answer. “But not this time, it’s not going to happen. I know I’m in trouble, but for once I’m going to fix things on my own. Maybe I already know what to do. Then, if I succeed, I’ll tell you everything about my plan and its results!” He informed him, leaving with the same quickness he had appeared.

Still a bit astounded by Thomas’s flood of words, Philipp attempted to reach Manuel again, but there was another obstacle: Christoph.

“Manu! I was looking just for you!” The defender cheered.

\- _Why am I not so surprised?-_ Philipp mentally rolled his eyes.

He had never realized how Manuel’s presence was requested by everyone. And he wasn’t very happy about it.

“You’ve been great! Even if you’re not back to yourself at one hundred per cent yet, you made great things on the field. We owe you our victory.” Christoph grinned.  
“Thanks, buddy!” Philipp politely smiled, but then Christoph got closer, resting both of his hands on his shoulders.

“Manu, I know you’re not having a great time, but I want you to know that you can count on me for everything. I don’t know, if you want to talk about your trouble ... or a shoulder to cry on.. or someone to make you smile... whatever, you can call me at any time. Both at day and especially at night.” He winked at him with a sexy innuendo. “You know, I can give wonderful back massages, too.” He added in a purr.

“Huh, okay, Chris, we will see about it... thanks for your time, your words, your suggestions, but I’m going to be okay, soon. On my own!” Philipp cleared his point, parting from him and leaving as fast as he could.  
He met on his way Jerome, Per and Miro and greeted them as his saviours.  
Anything to keep as far as possible from Christoph!

There was only a thing that comforted Philipp: his training/sort of date with Manu.  
He really couldn’t wait for that.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know... picturing poor Jogi (and Hansi, too) as a fan of such a soap-opera is pure crack, but I couldn’t resist ;P
> 
> Well, if you want to know about Thomas’s plan, Mats and Benni’s ‘private lessons’ , Manu’s and Fips’other things to face... don’t miss next chapter ^^  
> Comments and kudos make me happy and want to write faster; but feel free to tell me anything, really ^^
> 
> Just, please, don’t disappear, otherwise I’m going to feel very, very blue...
> 
> p.s. Original prompter (I’ll never thank you enough for that) since Footy Ficathon round 1 is closed and I can’t hear from you anymore there... I hope you’re still around and still liking it ;)
> 
> Goodnight, it’s pretty late


	6. IV: I need your help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there’s fluff, there’s kinkiness, there’s fluff again, but mostly there’s crack!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo,  
> finally I’m back with this story, too.  
> Thank you all <3
> 
> I’m really astonished by all the subscriptions and the bookmarks, please, don’t be shy, you can tell me whatever you want, even a word can make my day ^^
> 
> Not beta-ed, once again, sorry for my mistakes

Mario reached Thomas in the lockers, holding his mobile.  
  
“Hey, Thomas, look at what Marco has just texted me!” the younger striker said, showing him the display.  
  
“ ‘I don’t know how to explain it, Sunny, but somehow I have the feeling that something good has just happened, so I’m happy for you. M’” Thomas read out loud.  
“Isn’t it wonderful? Told you he could feel me!” Mario grins.  
  
“Oh god, no! You guys are just creepy and scare the hell out of me!” The elder grumbled, stunned, before heading towards the showers.  
  
‘Ahaha, it worked! So Thomas will quit saying that there’s no connection between you and me. Thanks for writing what I asked you to. M’ Mario sent his text message.  
The answer arrived pretty quickly.  
‘It was a good joke. Besides, that sceptic guy deserved to be scared a little bit. However, I still think there’s a special connection between us. M’  
  
‘I do, too. And I miss you so impossibly much :’(( M’  
‘Me, too, Sunny, but we’ll meet soon, once the World Cup is over. By the way, please, win the Cup for me, too. M’  
‘Of course, honey, I’ll do all I can do in order to win. And in a way or another, you’re going to be with us, on the podium, celebrating the victory... if we succeed. M’ Mario promised.  
‘I hope so, then. I love you, Mario.’  
‘I love you, Marco. ttyl.’ The younger texted, before putting his smartphone back in his bag and getting ready for the shower.  
  
   
Also Benedikt and Mats were taking off their clothes, but the first was aiming at something more than a simple shower.  
“Benni, what are you doing? This is my shower!” Mats made him notice, seeing his mate following him there, while he was about to take off his boxers, the only thing he still wore.  
“Oh, I know, but I was wondering, why don’t we take a shower together? Wouldn’t it be awesome if I took great care of a certain part of your body while we wash ourselves? And you could do the same with me...” The blond purred, leaning dangerously closer to the other.  
  
“Benni, are you nuts? C’mon, it’s so dirty...” Mats mumbled, backing off until his back connected with the cold tiles of the shower.  
“Dirty? No way, there’s going to be soap, foam and shower gel, too. It can’t be dirty!” Benedikt joked about.  
  
“Dammit, Benni, you know what I mean! With all the others here who could hear us... and what if someone accidentally saw us?” The brunet tried to make his lover reason.  
“Yeah, that’s the point. Don’t you find that exciting?” Benedikt insisted, tugging on Mats’ boxers, while he passed his tongue on his lips, slowly, to get them wet.  
Contrary to him, Mats’ mouth was dry.  
“No way, I just found it reckless and stupid. Now do me a favour, go to your shower and have a cold, very cold one. And thanks to you I’ll have to do the same!” He grumbled, pushing an already naked Benedikt away, before throwing a towel to him.  
  
“Oh, c’mon, Matsie, you’re still in time to change your mind. Did I mention that I have edible shower gel, too? I wanted to try this new trick with you...” The blond arched his eyebrow, alluring.  
Mats had a deep fight with his animal instincts and managed to overpower them.  
“Just bloody go!” He snapped, exasperated, sighing with relief only when a rather disappointed Benedikt headed towards to another shower.  
  
\----------------------------------------------  
  
About ten minutes later, everyone was ready to go , so they headed back to the Pullman.  
Philipp carefully avoided Christoph’s attempt to sit close to him and reserved the seat next to him to Manuel.  
Still deliberately ignoring Thomas, Miroslav walked through the corridor, choosing to sit next to Per and Jerome.  
Before sitting next to Bastian and Lukas, Thomas searched for Philipp.  
  
“Manu, do you remember when I said that I wouldn’t need your help to solve my problem this time? Actually I was lying, I need your help... or rather a little favour. I already know what to do, but you must keep Miroslav busy for a while, once we arrive to the hotel.” The young striker informed him.  
“Okay, Thomas, I want to help you. But how am I supposed to keep Miroslav busy?” Philipp wondered, confused.  
  
Thomas frowned.  
“Are you kidding? You’ve already done it, one million times!” He chuckled in disbelief.  
  
“Just make him talk about fishing. He can ramble even for half an hour about the last fish he caught and the way he did it.” Manuel suggested to Philipp, forgetting for an instant the current situation.  
  
Thomas stared at him, puzzled.  
  
“Hey! How do you know that?” He inquired, narrowing his eyes.  
Manuel had to think quickly, but Philipp was even quicker.  
  
“Oh c’mon, Thom! Did you really think it was a secret? Probably Miro told Fips about his passion for fishing even before you became part of the team.” He said with nonchalance.  
“Yes, you know... his passion for fishing, my passion for baking lead to a large amount of baked fishes, long before you or  even Manu arrived in the team!” Manuel rushed to add.  
  
Luckily for them, Thomas seemed to buy that.  
  
“Huh, probably you’re right. But next time I want to taste one of your baked fishes as well!” He smirked.  
“Considered it already done. Now go making it up with Miro!” Manuel smirked at him.  
“Okay then. Manu, you’ll keep Miro busy and you, Fips... you should try mind your business a little more!” He added, a little bit annoyed by all that sudden interest from Philipp for his private life.  
  
“Hey, I’m the Captain! I’m compelled to know the largest amount of things about my team. And you’d better mind your language when you speak to me... if you don’t want unpleasant consequences!” Manuel tried to sound like Philipp as hard as he could and apparently he succeeded.  
“Geez, you’re right. Sorry, Fips, please, forgive me and my bad mouth. I was just in the heat of the moment and not with my best mood today. Please, I really, really want to play against France!” The striker pleaded, him, fear in his eyes.  
  
“Okay, no unpleasant consequences for this time. But try to behave better!” Manuel shrugged.  
Thomas beamed, nodding thankfully, before reaching his seat.  
  
“Wow! So is this the Captain power? It’s intoxicating!” Manuel whispered to Philipp.  
The other chuckled.  
“I know, you must take little doses of it.” He suggested to him. “However, you sounded like me a lot!”  
“I’m just learning from the best!” Manuel winked at him, making the older blush a little.  
“So, is it true? Is Miro so fond of fishing?” Philipp asked him, mostly in order to change topic.  
“Ask him and find out on your own!” Manuel giggled.  
  
   
In the seats in the middle, Mats was recalling what had almost happened in the showers, with Benedikt.  
“You were joking before, when you mentioned the edible shower gel... weren’t you?” He asked him, almost rhetorically.  
“No way, my Matsie, I really bought it. It’s peppermint flavoured. You know, to get fresh when things get... hotter!” The blond smirked, whispering the last word in his ear, while he caressed his thigh.  
  
Mats jolted a little, but didn’t remove his hand from there.  
“And have you already tried to use it?” The brunet wondered.  
“Nope, but Julian did, actually he was the one who told me about such invention. And he said it’s a lot of fun.” Benedikt revealed.  
  
“Julian?! And with whom?” Mats grew curios, glancing quickly at the young player, who was sitting behind with the other young ones.  
  
\- _Maybe Christoph? Or Erik? Or Mathias? Or all of them? I’d never thought that such a calm and shy guy could have such a dirty side!_ \- The Dortmund player smiled amused by his own pondering.  
  
“Tsk-tsk, I’m not going to tell you. What happen in Schalke stays in Schalke!” Benedikt giggled.  
“Oh” So it happened in your team!” Mats realised. “And, tell me, is that rule works for you, too?” He inquired, narrowing his eyes at him.  
  
Jealousy and paranoia were already taking over, but his boyfriend dissipated them instantly.  
“Nope, honey. You’re the one and only.” The blond purred, making him beam.  
  
“However, Hümmels, you shouldn’t have pushed me away in the shower. Remember? You asked for some coolness lessons, that was the first one.” The Schalke04 Captain smirked.  
“What? That was not coolness, that was kinkiness!” Mats pointed out.  
Benedikt slid closer to him and his hand ran up on his thigh.  
“So what? Are you really complaining about that?” He murmured, his hazel eyes shining with a weird glint.  
Mats stared at him, almost bewitched.  
  
\- W _hen exactly Did this sort of altar boy turn into a tempter demon? And why do I find him even more irresistible now?-_ He wondered, losing himself into his boyfriend’s eyes.  
  
“Do you want to know about the second lesson?” said tempter demon asked him.  
“Sure I do. What is it?”  
“Put your rucksack on your lap and you’ll find out.” The bond instructed him.  
 “Why?” The younger frowned.  
“Do it and you’ll find it out!” The older urged him.  
  
The other obeyed and put the rucksack on his lap.  
Once he had the right shield, Benedikt set his kinky plan in action and inserted his hand between the rucksack and Mats’ belly, going lower.  
Mats had to bit his lower lip hard not to scream.  
  
“What the hell are you doing?” He hissed to his mate.  
“C’mon, the rucksack is covering me as well, no one can see us and even more important, no one is minding at us. Look, Toni is sleeping, Sami is still too busy cheering Mesut up, André and Roman are reading a magazine, Mario is texting... probably with Marco..” The blond made him notice, caressing his virility through his shorts.  
  
“Huh.. waw! But... this is not the proper moment, Jogi is about to speak to the team!” Mats protested, seeing their coach grabbing the microphone.  
 “Yeah, so I’m going to keep your interest... higher!” Benedikt sneered, letting his hand slide inside Mats’ boxers.  
“Be...nni!” Mats gasped, suddenly lacking oxygen.  
  
In the meantime, Joachim had started his speech.  
  
“There are some things about the match of this morning that I wish not to see anymore, anywhere, such as such a lame defence,” He commenced, narrowing his eyes at some of the defenders. “Some useless faults!” He went on, glaring at Mesut, who whimpered, searching for other comfort in Sami’s arms. “Absurd panic attacks from a certain goalkeeper I won’t mention... and a lack of interest and responsibility from who is supposed to be a Captain!” he added and both Philipp and Manuel stared at the ground, ruefully.  
  
For some reasons, Mats had barely heard a quarter of his speech.  
  
“Benedikt, although I appreciate that a loooot, I guess you’d better stop, before this turn into a mess...” He pleaded, clenching his teeth.  
 “Oh, so ... shouldn’t I increase the rhythm?” The blond wondered with fake naivety, before starting to pump him faster.  
“Oh god... Ben... shit.. nooo!” Mats hissed, trying to maintain his control.  
  
  
“Well, I also have to say that there are also things I liked, such as some clever defence by some of you,  some of the strikers’ stubbornness and determination to score,” Joachim said, taking some step as closer as the microphone cable allowed him to. “But mostly all the concentration and firmness that Mats has showed during the penalty. You all should learn something from him.” He stated, glancing at the Dortmund Captain, like everyone else did.  
  
Neither this made Benedikt interrupt his secret activity.  
  
“Gaaaaahhh.... OH GOD!” Mats jolted with a little scream, feeling both deeply pleased and slightly exhausted.  
“Oh, isn’t he adorable? He’s recalling the most salient moment of that penalty!” Benedikt justified him, before finally removing that naughty hand, looking perfectly innocent.  
“Okay, but if I were you, I would save some excitement for the match against France, that would be a more understandable reason to rejoice so much!” Joachim grumbled, going back to his seat.  
  
Mats sighed with relief and then glared at Benedikt.  
  
“Oh c’mon, it was fun!” The older shrugged.  
“No way, it was only dangerous and it made me look like an idiot!” The younger grumbled. “Besides, I desperately need another shower now! Oh, wait, at least we can enjoy that edible shower gel now...” He figured out, already picturing that moment.  
“Well, yes, I guess we can have some fun there... but no more making love until you’re ready for the thrid lesson.” Benedikt commanded.  
  
“I’m afraid to ask you what the third lesson is.” Mats mumbled, fearing the worst.  
“Give me a blowjob in a public place. Don’t worry, you can pick the one you prefer... the locker, a park, in a photo booth, in a public bathroom... let your fantasy run, honey!” The blond winked at him, leaving the brunet so stunned that he didn’t add a single word.  
  
  
For reasons, once the team arrived to the hotel, Mats rushed to his room, followed by Benedikt, while Philipp managed to stop Miroslav in time, before he reached the elevator.  
  
“Hey, Miro, it was an awesome training today, right?”  
“Yes, very useful, can’t wait for the second section this afternoon.” Miroslav replied.  
  
Philipp wished he had something more to say about it, but seeing Miro keeping silent, he resorted to the secret weapon.  
  
“Brazil is great, too bad there’s no time for fishing, right?”  
“You’re right, it would be so wonderful, but I don’t even know if there are allowed areas around here. In Rome everything is so easier, you know, I got up early in the morning, sometimes I can even see sunrise, while I’m sitting on the coast, alone with my thoughts, waiting for a fish to bite the bait. Last time I had two wait for two hours, before a carp...” Miroslav started his tale, enlightened.  
  
\- _Manu was right, looks like Miro will ramble about it for ages!_ \- Philipp realized, almost repenting for that.  
  
By the time Miro was done, Thomas had already had the time to do everything.  
  
That’s why when Miroslav stepped in his room, he saw his bed half covered by tons of coloured post-it notes.  
  A little bit puzzled, he grabbed some, reading them out loud.  
  
“ ‘I’ll wash your car’, ‘I’ll bring your sport bag’, ‘I’ll polish your shoes’, ‘I won’t hang out for two weeks’, ‘I’ll iron your shirts’ ... “  
  
He was even more perplexed, but at least he had recognized the handwriting and he had already dialled a specific number on his iPhone.  
  
“Thomas? What the heck does it mean?” He asked his boyfriend, as soon as he picked the call up, without letting him even utter a word.  
“It’s simple. Since I acted so childish today, I guess that I need to be punished as a child.” Thomas explained, talking at the phone, while he  popped out from the bathroom where he had hidden.  
  
Both of them hung up, facing each other.  
  
“Oh, Miro, I know I’ve been impossible during the whole training, I’m so sorry, it’s just that I was so nervous... you know, the match is near and France is never an easy task...” The Bavarian justified.  
“I know, I guess everyone is nervous...” The Polish replied.  
“Yeah, but nervousness brings out the worst of me and I want you to see only the best.” Thomas grumbled.  
  
“Thomas I love you, both the best and the worst of you.” The older reassured his boyfriend, hugging him. “I have to say that that was very unexpected and original from you!” He chuckled.  
“Yeah, I wanted to do something cute after the horrible things I said to you before... I guess I still need to be punished, after all.” Thomas insisted, parting from him.  
  
“Okay, let’s find a punishment, then. What about this one?” Miroslav decided, handing him one of the post-its.  
“ ‘Three weeks without TV’ ?! Oh, c’mon, that’s a bit too much. It was only meant to be a symbolic punishment... “ The younger pouted. “Please, pick any other else but it; also because I’ve just bought a whole Futurama seasons, Manu and I will have lots of fun tonight!” He informed him.  
  
Miroslav confined to glare at him, almost growling.  
  
“Huh, okay, bad choice of words.. you know what I meant! I can have that kind of fun only with you!” He rushed to point out, making Miro smile, before finding another note.  
  
“ ‘I’ll saddle your horse up’ ? But, Thom, I don’t even have a horse!” He made him notice, raising an eyebrow.  
“Oh, well, try to look better, there’s also ‘I’ll buy you a horse’ somewhere there.” Thomas informed him, making Miro chuckle.  
“Hey, what’s so funny about it? C’mon, I’ve learned every slightest detail about fishing; you should live my life as well!” Thomas justified with a pout, looking too cute for Miroslav to resist.  
  
“Tell me, Müllie, is there also a ‘I'll make love with you before going back to Manu’ note?” He hinted, laying down on the bed.  
“No, but we can pretend there is!” Thomas grinned happily, before reaching Miroslav, kissing him passionately and rolling on the bed with him, among all those little sheets of paper.  
  
\----------------------------------------------------------  
  
For reasons, both Mats and Benedikt and Miroslav and Thomas arrived late at the lunch room, but no one seemed to mind at it.  
  
Coming back in their room, after lunch, Per took advantage of that to have a little nap.  
Manuel was about to mirror his action, but Philipp’s iPhone began ringing.  
  
‘Claudia’ he could clearly read on the display.  
  
\- _Shit, what am I supposed to do now? Of course she would call, he’s her husband, she has every right to hear from him… let’s hope it’s something quick_ … -  He pondered, before picking the call up.  
  
“Claudia, my dear, how are you?” He greeted her, trying to sound as nice as he could.  
“Everything is fine here, honey, hope the training is going well.” She answered.  
“Yes, we’re working hard.”  
“Okay, Philipp, let’s no waste any time, you know why I called you.” Claudia stated.  
“Do I?” Manuel wondered, wavering.  
“Oh c’mon, it’s bed time for Julian and you know better than me that he can’t sleep without daddy’s fable.” She revealed.  
“Huh.. sure, but… you know, my battery is about to die… give me at least ten minutes to recharge it  and then I’ll call you back for the fable!” Manuel informed her, before hanging up.  
  
There was no time for sleep, he had something else to do.  
He knocked at the door and found a rather sleepy Thomas opening.  
  
“Sorry, Thomas, I didn’t plan to disturb but… is Phi… I mean, Manu here? I need to talk to him, it’s important.”  
  
“Geez, guys, you’re looking for each other a lot today!” He yawned, before calling for Manuel in a not very polite way.  
  
Philipp arrived and immediately reached Manu on the corridor, allowing Thomas to go back to sleep.  
  
“What happened?” The Captain asked him, agitated.  
“I need your help. Your wife called and now she wants me to tell your son the fable you always tell him… what am I supposed to tell him? Is something like Red Hood, Peter Pan, Three little pigs?” Manuel wondered, trying his best to recall that childhood stuff.  
  
“No way, it’s something invented up by me… but it’s way too personal.” Philipp grumbled, feeling a bit awkward.  
“I guess we’re beyond personal, considering the situation. C’mon, tell me what it is, I told your wife I’d call her back in ten minutes.” Manuel exhorted him.  
“Promise me you won’t be angry.” Philipp muttered.  
“Just tell me!”  
  
“Okay, it’s about the brave Baker Prince in his Pastry Realm against the army of... sugary snacks and junk food!” The older revealed.  
“What? And tell me... does Nutella belong to the army?” Manuel inquired, narrowing his eyes at him.  
“Nutella is the monster boss of that army!” Philipp confessed.  
  
“And... does it die at the end?” Manuel laboriously asked him.  
“Well, yes, the Prince always manages to defeat it...”  The other told him the bitter truth.  
“Philipp... how could you?” Manuel whimpered, insulted.  
“Hey, you promised you wouldn't be angry. Besides, you can't judge me, I need to raise my kid in the healthiest way possible, it’ my choice what kind of fable I want to tell him!” He justified.  
  
Manuel glared at him a little bit more, but then changed expression and smiled, sort of enlightened.  
  
 “Okay, if Julian wants a fairytale about the Baker Prince and the Nutella Monster, it’s what he’ll get.” He sneered, before going back to his room.  
  
\- _Whatever is going to happen, I already know I won’t like it._ – Philipp thought, a little concerned.  
  
Feeling Manu’s iPhone vibrating in his pocket, he realized he had a reason more to be worried about, when he stared at the display.  
Manuel’s girlfriend was calling.  
  
“Cathy, hi, how are you?” Philipp greeted her in the nicest way possible.  
“Very good now that I hear from you, baby!” The girl meowed. “What were you doing, Manu?”  
“Well... thinking about you?” Philipp hazarded, guessing it was something kind to say.  
And it was.  
“Aaawwwww Manu, you become sweeter and sweeter day after day!” she squealed.  
“It’s true, Cathy, I miss you a lot.”  
“I miss you, too. But stop calling me Cathy, c’mon, you know the way I love to be called...” She hinted.  
  
Things were turning harder for Philipp.  
  
“Sure, my baby, I could never forget the way I call you....” He tried to gain more time, while he examined the possibilities.  
\- _Well, the fans call Manu Ducky for some reasons, so maybe..._ – He jumped to his conclusion, before giving it a try.  
  
“My beloved, little... Daisy Duck?”  
Silence from the other side.  
  
“Daisy Duck? Are you kidding me? That’s a slut name you probably use for all the slut girls you’re dating in Brazil, where I can’t control you. Am I right, Manu?” She snapped.  
“What? No, Cathy, please, that’s not true, you’re the only girl for me, I don’t even see the others... please, believe me...” Philipp pleaded.  
“Okay, Manu, if I’m really so important to you, you should remember the way I want you to call me, shouldn’t you?” She challenged him.  
“P.. Princess?” Philipp wavered, crossing his fingers.  
“Fuck you, Manuel! I’m sick of your lies!” Cathy snapped, hanging up.  
  
Philipp stared at the mobile, still bewildered.  
  
\- _So , let’s recap what happened in the last five minutes: not only Manu found out about my fairytale, but now I’ve even made him have a furious fight with his girlfriend and I have to let him know... no wonder if he’ll try to kill me in my sleep!_ – He pondered, taking a deep breath before heading to Manu and Per’s room.  
  
TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you want to find out about the fairytale Manu is about to tell Julian, Philipp’s chances to survive and lots of other stuff, don’t miss next chapter ;)
> 
> I really don’t know where the hell Mats/Benni ‘s side-story popped out from, but I hope you won’t mind... I confess I’m liking a lot this kinky Benni ... mostly because I made him such a pure and innocent angel in another story XD
> 
> Hope you had fun reading it, even half of the fun I had writing it ^^
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are loved, craved and cherished :)
> 
> Thanks for your time ^^


	7. V: Once upon a time...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some secrets are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello?? I know.. I have no excuse, I’ve been horrible, disappearing for more than a year without any update… :/ but lots in RL happened and I’ve been pretty busy with stuff… besides, I had a HUGE writer’s block.
> 
> So now I’m trying to go back to writing and I’ve decided to start from this one.  
> I do not expect any of you to remember it … and I apologise once more.
> 
> If there’s someone brave enough to read it … I just hope you’ll enjoy it and have some fun . Things went crazy… once again! ^^’
> 
> No beta.. which menas tons of horrible, horrible, horrible mistakes, please, forgive me :’(

Luckily for Philipp, at least he didn’t have to deal even with an annoyed Per, because once he knocked at their door, the older player was already awake and in a good mood.  
  
“Oh, Manu! Let me guess, you’re looking for Fips, right? It’s the leitmotiv of the day!” Per chuckled, letting Philipp in.  
“Well, well, looks who came here just in time to hear the fairy-tale…” Manuel stated, while he dialled Claudia’s number. “Hey, Claudia, it’s me again, that’s okay, now, I’ve got enough battery. Let me talk with the little Champion, pretty please.” He instructed her, switching the speaker on, in order to give Philipp a proper show.  
  
“Helllooooo, daddyyyyyyyyyy!” Julian chirped happily.  
“He doesn’t strike me like someone who’s very willing to sleep.” Manuel whispered to Philipp, looking concerned.  
“Trust me, he just needs his fable,” the Captain whispered back.  
  
“Hello, dear my troublemaker, are you already in your bed?” Manuel wondered.  
“Ja, Papa, let’s start the fable!” the child urged him.  
“Okay, you might even like it more than usual this time, you know?” Manuel stated.  
“Really?” Julian wondered, intrigued. “Why?”  
“You’ll see. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, coloured Realm named…”  
“Pastry Realm!” The child anticipated him, giggling.  
“Correct. And said Realm was ruled by an awesome, brave but good man…” Manuel went on, making Philipp smile.  
“Yeah, Baker Prince!” The kid yelled.  
  
“Yep, but sometimes Prince Baker was so stubborn that he couldn’t see things like they really were…” Manuel added, glaring at Philipp.  
“What? I thought Prince Baker was perfect, he couldn’t make any mistakes and he couldn’t lose any battle!” Julian protested.  
“He thought so, too… and during the umpteenth battle against the Nutella Monster, he was about to win, but the monster managed to disarm the Prince, before it was too late. ‘Please, Baker Prince, tell me, why are you fighting me?’ he asked him. ‘Because I have to protect my people from you and your army, I can’t let you destroy my Realm!’ replied the Prince, trying to grab his sword again; but the way Nutella Monster was looking at him stopped him.” Manuel continued his tale.  
“Why? How was he looking at him?” Julian grew curios.  
“What the hell are you babbling about?” Philipp mouthed to him, a bit disappointed.  
  
“Puzzled. Monster Nutella was utterly puzzled by his words. ‘Destroy your realm? Why should I? I love this place, I’d like your people and mine to leave together here, in perfect harmony.’ he revealed. ‘Really? Of course we can, come with me, I’ll introduce you to my Realm!’ the Baker Prince grinned. So they walked hand in hand, but when they arrived to his throne, the Pastry people started to yell angrily at the Nutella Monster and his army…”  
“But… noo.. why? Poor Nutella Monster, he’s good!” Julian protested.  
“Don’t worry, my dear, the Baker Prince was there to solve all the troubles. ‘Stop yelling, I was wrong, the Nutella Monster here and his army are peaceful; they just want to live here with us. Trust me, we don’t have to fear them anymore!’ he exhorted everyone. The crowd kept silent and after a while, two Pastry people reached the Nutella Monster, carefully, before hugging him and the most unexpected thing happened.”  
  
“What? What happened? Did the monster kill them?” Julian wondered, concerned.  
“No way, Julian, I said he was good and he really was. As a matter of fact, overwhelmed by all that affection, the Nutella Monster started to cry and his tears were so happy that they tasted like chocolate cream, but with something more! The Pastry people ate all his tears, asking for more. So, thanks to the Nutella Monster’s tears, the Pastry Realm never starved anymore and to thank him for that the Baker Prince named him Knight of his Realm and they became best friends.” Manu ended the edited fairy-tale.  
“What a beautiful story, Daddy! So Nutella is good!” Julian figured out.  
  
“Yeah, you know, the Baker Prince was forced to believe he was an enemy to destroy, because he had been brainwashed by the most terrific villain ever.” Manuel revealed.  
“Whooo?” Julian asked him, already yawning.  
“Sorry, sonny, I’ll tell you this story another time, Champion. Now it’s time to sleep, have sweet dreams.” Manuel murmured, asking confirmation to Claudia that the kid was finally sleeping, and he hung up, satisfied.  
  
“You were right, it had the right effect on him!” Manuel chuckled, turning to Julian’s real father.  
“Not only on him...” Philipp hinted, pointing at a newly sleeping Per.  
“I can’t believe he’s sleeping again!” The younger rolled his eyes.  
  
“I guess it’s better; so we can talk. You turned the Nutella Monster good, for God’s sake!” The older snapped.  
“About time someone did! You were giving wrong ideas to that poor kid!” Manuel struck back.  “Can’t wait to go on with the tale tomorrow; because, like I anticipated to Julian, truth is that someone brainwashed Baker Prince, in order to make him believe that the Nutella Monster was evil; that was the wicked plan of someone who is their real enemy and wanted them to destroy each other.” he revealed.  
“Who?” Philipp interrogated him.  
“The cruellest being ever: the dreadful Muesli Witch!” Manuel replied.  
  
“What?! You can’t be serious! I won’t let you tell my son stories about Muesli being cruelly killed!” The other protested.  
“Actually, I was thinking about Nutella Monster and Baker Prince forgiving Muesli Witch, realizing that the Realm is big enough for everyone to coexist in perfect harmony.” The younger amazed him with his answer.  
“Huh? Really?” Philipp wondered, impressed.  
“Yep, see? I’m not as racist as you!”  
“Hey, I’m not racist!’  
“I meant only about food issues, Mr. Nutella-is-bad-Snacks-are-bad-Candies-are-bad-Only-OneHundredParcent-Natural-or-Baked-Stuff-is-Good!” Manuel made him notice.  
“Huh...okay, I guess I should try to be a tiny bit more permissive about food.” Philipp admitted, before recalling the main reason why he was there. “Geez Manu, you should kill me now!”  
  
“C’mon, don’t be so dramatic, we just have different opinion about food, but...”  
“No Manu, it’s not that. Cathy called me before, thinking I was you, of course; so she said there’s a special way you call her... but I’ve miserably failed, trying to guess what it was. So she snapped, yelled furiously at me, saying I was cheating on her and she hung up. I’m so sorry!” Philipp explained, ruefully, staring at the ground and fearing the worst.  
“I’m going to reveal a secret to you: sometimes I think that Cathy likes arguing with me much more than she loves me.” Manuel replied, utterly calm.  
  
“Really? So are you not angry?” Philipp asked for confirmation.  
“It’s not a big deal. Leave her alone for a day and tomorrow she’ll be all lovely again.” Manuel suggested.  
“Well, I have a better idea. Why don’t you tell me the special way you call her, so I can recall her and make her happy and all lovely again already today?” Philipp offered.  
“Naaah, it’s not such an emergency...”  
  
“It is, indeed. What if tomorrow she calls me again, asks me the same thing and I don’t know what to answer? You have to tell me!” The older insisted.  
“I can’t, it’s way too personal... and embarrassing.” The younger muttered, looking away.  
“Even more than my fairy-tale? Oh, c’mon, just tell me...” Philipp exhorted him.  
“First, promise to me that you won’t laugh...” Manuel grumbled.  
“Of course, I won’t. You’re free to tell me anything.” the other assured.  
  
Manuel pondered the situation for a while, before finally answering.  
“Okay. She loves when I call her... Kitty Cathy Cutie!”  
Philipp nodded, trying his best to resist and remain serious, but he epically failed and burst out laughing.  
  
“Hey, you gave me your word!” Manuel reminded to him, insulted.  
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to...but I just can’t! Geez, that’s the fluffiest, sappiest and ugliest nickname I’ve ever heard!” Philipp stated, giggling again.  
“I know. Sometimes I think that that girl likes humiliating me.” Manuel sighed.  
Out of the blue, Philip lost any desire to laugh again. He felt sorry for Manuel. And concerned. Probably Manuel’s girlfriend didn’t make him happy. He deserved someone better beside him.  
  
\- _I’d treat him one-hundred times better than her. Wait. What the hell am I thinking?_ \- He asked himself, rather bewildered.  
  
“Huh, okay... now that I’ve got this precious information, I’d better go... See you later at training!” He said, before leaving.  
  
************************** (in the meantime )  
   
There was a couple that hadn’t took advantage of the afternoon break to sleep.  
Recalling Benedikt’s words, Mats was about to fulfil the third lesson.  
  
“But, sweetheart, the blindfold wasn’t included!” Benedikt chuckled, while his boyfriend helped him to walk, grabbing his forearm.  
“I know, but I wanted to add some mystery, honey!” Mats replied, kissing his mate.  
“Am I complaining?” Benedikt smiled against the brunet’s lips.  
  
“So, do you want a little hint about where we are?” Mats suggested.  
“Sure, honey, amaze me.”  
“Well, we are in a corridor, so, you know, a very, very pubic place, so many people could walk by … but there’s more.”  
“Really?” Benedikt asks him, intrigued.  
“Yes, you know, we aren’t in a random corridor, but in a specific one. For the records, I’m pushing you against the wall next to Löw’s room.” Mats informed his boyfriend, before assailing his neck.  
“Wa.. wait..what?” Benedikt jolted, parting from him.  
“You heard me right. C’mon, Benni, think about it… we are here, making out and he could step in here any time… isn’t it the most exciting thing ever?” Mats moaned, cupping Benedikt’s balls through the fabric of his trousers.  
  
“Shit Matsie, It’s not exciting, it’s pure suicide!” Benedikt almost screamed, snatching the sinful hand and holding Mats’ wrist still. “This is way too much. We must leave now that we still can!” he suggested, using the free hand in order to remove the blindfold from his eyes.  
“No, Benedikt, don’t!” Mats tried to prevent him from doing it, but it was just too late.  
Benedikt had already made a rather important discovery.  
  
“Wait a minute… this is not a corridor… this is the wall of our room! We didn’t move from here!” He figured out, glaring at Mats. “You, bloody cheater!”  
“Okay, Benni, I confess, I’ve tried to fool you, but… try to understand, you used to be Mr-Shyness and turned into the Master of Kinkiness in a heartbeat  … so everything is so new to me and… I…. I don’t think I can deal with public blowjobs, so…” He babbled.  
  
“You don’t want to leave this room, am I right?” Benedikt stated, calmer than before.  
“I’m sorry, but… I don’t feel like doing that.” Mats murmured, staring at the ground, awkwardly.  
“Therefore we don’t have to leave this room, honey.” Benedikt asserted, reassuringly.  
Mats beamed in response, thanking his lover with his look.  
“As long as we move to the balcony!” Benedikt added, with a devilish smile.  
  
“W..wh..what?” Mats almost chocked in his reply.  
“Oh c’mon, what are you afraid of? We have concrete balcony, no transparent balustrade…. although I hardly suppose that some fans could see us from the street!” The Shalke04 player chuckled.  
“I know… but… people close to our room could see us!” Mats tried to reason with him.  
“Nope if it’s nap-time! And I promise not to scream… much!” the blond grinned, already grabbing the brunet’s hand and leading him to their balcony.  
  
There was just a short step from kissing to stuff that was more passionate and in a few minutes Mats was already on his knees, worshipping a certain part of Benedikt’s body, even more accurately when the brunet got rid of his boyfriend’s pants.  
Benedikt was trying his best not to scream, biting his lower lip as hard as he could.  
But something, or rather someone, made him jolt, biting his tongue, sort of painfully.  
  
“Luks, hurry up, you have no idea what I’m staring at!” Bastian yelled, popping out from the balcony on their left.  
The Pole rushed to his side, right in time to see part of that show.  
“See, Basti? We didn’t have to use hot pay per view TV to have some fun!” Lukas giggled.  
  
Recovering from the initial shock, Mats had managed to put Benedikt’s pants back on him and was trying to act casually.  
  
“What? No way, guys, there’s a huge misunderstanding! I was just…looking for… my Bluetooth!” Mats tried to think as fast as possible, but it didn’t work.  
“Yeah, right… and what exactly made you think it could be in Benedikt’s balls?” Bastian struck back.  
“I don’t know about the misunderstanding… but I still can see something huge from here!” Lukas grinned, eyeing at Benedikt’s lap.  
  
Both of those witty remarks made Mats and Benedikt turn redder than the middle of Germany’s flag.  
It was useless trying to deny the evidence anymore.  
  
“Please, guys, never ever tell anyone what you saw…” Mats pleaded.  
Bastian and Lukas exchanged a look.  
“I guess we can make a deal.” Bastian announced. “We won’t tell anyone… if you give Lukas some lessons about that!”  
“What???” Benedikt and Mats squeaked in unison.  
  
“You know, Lukas is the best lover I could ever ask for, he really drives me crazy, but there’s a certain activity he lacks some passion in… the very same activity I’ve seen you two so engrossed in!” Bastian revealed.  
“I would do anything to make my Basti happier, so… I guess you can already figure out what we are about to ask.” Lukas added.  
  
“Do you want us to train you to make blowjobs to Benni and me until you learn to do that awesomely?” Mats babbled, in utter disbelief.  
“Hell no, you’d better regret the day you were born if you dare to put your clutches on my Poldi, both of you!” Bastian growled, glaring at the couple. “You just have to allow him to watch you while you are doing… that stuff and possibly make him  learn some tricks!” he pointed out.  
  
Mats was too shocked to reply, but evidently, Benedikt did not have the same problem.  
  
“Okay, you can send Lukas to us tonight, after dinner, and be sure we’ll give him a proper show!” the Shalke04 Captain smirked.  
  
Satisfied, both Bastian and Lukas nodded and went back to their room.  
  
“Benedikt Höwedes, would you please bother to explain me how things have turned into such a disaster in the last ten minutes?” Mats asked his boyfriend, authority in his tone.  
“Disaster?! I guess we couldn’t have been any luckier!” Benedikt chuckled, confusing his partner.  
“How the hell can you call this tragedy… luck?” the Borussia Dortmund Captain snapped.  
“Actually, honey, to make someone watch us has the potential to be a very interesting fourth lesson!” The blond confessed to his lover.  
“I should have given you a blowjob in the corridor of Jogi’s room for real… it would have been safer!” Mats muttered, making the other giggle.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------  
  
For reasons, that night Manuel and Philipp were the faster people to have dinner and in half an hour they reached the training field.  
  
“Okay, Fips, go to the goal post. I’ll make the shooting and you must try to block it, okay?” Manuel instructed him, placing the balloon.  
  
Philipp obeyed, but the first attempt was not very satisfying.  
  
“For the record, Fips, yelping and hugging the goalpost won’t get you anywhere!” Manuel rolled his eyes.  
“I know, but I can’t… the shooting was so hard… I was so afraid… I just can’t do it!” Philipp whined once more.  
“Okay, change of plan. It is too soon to try the shooting. First, I have to tell you a story. Come here.” Manuel exhorted him.  
  
They both sat on the ground and Manuel slid closer to Philipp, while they both stared at the starry, Brazilian sky.  
  
“Once upon a time, there was a kid who loved playing football but didn’t want to be a goalkeeper and was upset every time his friends picked up that role for him.” Manuel began his tale and Philipp immediately figured out it was autobiographic.  
“I hated to be a goalkeeper because I didn’t want to be the one everyone blamed if the team was losing the match.” Manuel went on.  
“So what made you change your mind?” Philipp interrogated him.  
  
Manuel had never seen his own features so drawn to something like Philipp right then was to his tale.  
  
“Well, one fine day I’ve realised I could be the one who saved the match, I could be a hero, the one everyone thanked! And this determination, year after year.. .made me who I am today.. well not exactly in my body right now... but... you know what I mean!” Manuel concluded, making the other smile.  
“Wow! You hadn’t ever told me that before.” Philipp stated in awe.  
“I didn’t plan to tell anyone…never ever! But what I’m trying to make you understand, Fips, is that you don’t have to see the balloon like an enemy, but like your chance to shine.” The other murmured.  
“My chance to shine.” Philipp repeated.  
  
“Damn right. And another tip I can give to you is … if you are really so afraid of strikers’ shooting, try to anticipate them, before they have the chance to shoot.” Manuel winked at him.  
“That’s why you always leave the goal post and act like a defender!” Philipp realised.  
“Now you know my dirty little secret. Use it wisely.” Manuel smiled at him.  
“I’d like to give you tips about how to be a good Captain, but… I don’t know exactly what to say. I don’t have any anecdote about that, nor tricks… you just have to be very empathic with every single person in the team: defenders, strikers, fullbacks, centre forwards… lead the team, understanding what the team wants and how we can get it. Only experience can teach you that… but I have the feeling you have a very good potential.” Philipp stated.  
  
An awkward silence felt between the two players. They kept staring at each other, enjoying the affinity that was growing between them, but not knowing if there could be more and a little afraid of finding that out.  
  
“Okay, let’s try again, but this time I want to see you shine.” Manuel exhorted the older, getting up, mostly in order to break the silence.  
  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The training had been hard, but very productive and thanks to Manuel’s help, Philipp had made some progresses; but he was very tired and the only thing he wished for was to sleep.  
Too bad that once he stepped in his room, a very hyperactive Thomas welcomed him.  
  
“Manuuuuuuuuu! Finally you’re back! Where the hell did you go? No, wait, I don’t mind; just come here and sit down. Look at what I’ve got!” He overreacted, showing proudly the DVD box of a whole Futurama Season.  
  
Philipp have no idea what it was, but something told him it was something Manuel was supposed to be very excited about.  
  
“Mein Gott! That’s great! What are you waiting for? Let’s watch it!” He urged the Bavarian.  
“Sure and there are also tons of extras, alternate endings and deleted scenes and we are going to watch every single one!” Thomas cheered, taking the first DVD.  
  
The poor Philipp had the unpleasant feeling it would have been a very long night.  
  
TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it . I’ll try not to take so damn long to update anymore… *apologises once more*

**Author's Note:**

> This is only a short prologue, more to come, get ready to have some fun ^^
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it so far, let me know, even if you have some special request for what you want to see happen... I’ll try to please you if it goes along with the plot I’m planning ;)


End file.
